Dragon's Game
by Kingofclubs8129
Summary: Sixteen year old Harry Dresden has just escaped from a battle to the death with his guardian and adopted father. He cant stay a step ahead of the council without some inside info, but a mistake in his summoning nets him something a bit bigger than he was expecting.
1. Prologue

I've made some pretty terrible attempts at advanced spellwork since I left my old teachers place after the horrible fire I'd caused when I'd killed him. I've messed up evocations and flopped potions and I've certainly managed to make a mess of nearly every single electronic device that came within range. That being said, the one bit of magic I'm always even more careful of than any other is summoning.

You cant afford to mess around with that stuff, you cant afford to make a weak circle or mispronounce a name and accidentally unleash a horrifying abomination into the world, people underestimate how much damage a botched summoning can do and I for one would prefer not to accidentally unleash Cthulu onto an American city because I skimped on the prepwork.

However for my first failed summoning I did not expect what appeared to be a really adorable girl with purple hair and the cutest rosebud mouth I had ever seen. Demons weren't exactly known for fair play so I shouldn't have been surprised, but then again, women had always been my biggest weakness. I also hadnt expected to see all that skin. I fought the urge to blush and trained my face into a scowl. This wasn't a failed summon, this was just Chauncey deciding to try a new form to throw me off.

I levelled a glare at the girl, who looked all of fifteen, maybe a year or so younger than I was and did my best to give off an air of disaffected menace. "Listen up demon, I'm not sure why you thought the goth sex goddess look was going to throw me off but its not getting you any farther than the slavering beast routine. So if you wouldn't mind clothing yourself I'll be asking my questions." That's it Harry, don't give them an inch, just keep yourself composed and don't give away how mindnumbingly, pantsrendingly gorgeous that Demon is.

The demon looked at me quizically and then glanced down and turned THE most adorable shade of red I've ever seen anything female shaped become. Damn, Chauncey had really brought his A-game here. The blank expression was beginning to bleed through to annoyance as the demon fought to cover up all his (er, her?) fun parts. I mean…evil demon parts. Really well shaped demon parts, and great I was staring. I wasn't going to give Chauncey the satisfaction of rattling me so I forced my gaze off his REALLY shapely form and back to his glaring eyes.

"Hey I may be evil but that doesn't make me a demon, even villains have some standards. Besides, youre hardly in a position to lecture, you perv. You've been eyeing the goods since I woke up and havent really been subtle about it. Where exactly are we? This doesn't look like any part of the Isle I've been to." She looked around with a raised eyebrow. She had a kind of haughty demeanor that spoke of royalty and an air confidence that spoke of power. This girls was used to being obeyed, and was more than capable of making you if you were inclined to disagree.

I gave the eyebrow right back to her, this was a bit odd, Chauncey had tried other forms but he always had that upper crust british accent. I hadnt done much summoning with Justin but I was fairly sure if Chauncey could do a different voice he definitely would have tried it before. "To be fair, that's exactly what a demon would say, but that line of thought gets us literally nowhere. So, pretending for a moment youre somehow a normal girl that cant leave my circle, I apologize for the staring, and what do you mean evil?"

She gave me a wicked little smirk (which did pretty intriguing things to that perfect cupids bow mouth) "I mean that I'm Mal, daughter of the great sorceress Maleficent, most powerful of all villains" She smirked haughtily at me, clearly expecting me to be in awe of her parentage, and just as clearly put out when I doubled over laughing.

"Maleficent? The fairy tale villain? Well I may not be sure you're human but I'm pretty postive you're not Chauncey, demons maybe be clever bastards but I've never heard of one outmaneuvering someone with stupidity." I was choking down lungfulls of air while I spoke, trying to fit the words out between bouts of roaring laughter. "Hells Bells Kitten, if you were going to lie about your parent being a fictional character you could've at least avoided disney movies. I cant even watch TV and I know that's bullshit. Let me guess, Darth Vader is your father?"

Mal gave a furious pout (which was probably the most adorable thing I had ever seen in my life) and glared daggers at me as her eyes began to glow. Which in itself wouldn't have been a problem if she had been a demon, unfortunately staring into those burning emerald orbs triggered the familiar feeling of a soul gaze.

I was standing in a black and empty wasteland. Mal was there with me, but instead of the purple hair and green eyes she had sweetly curling cornsilk blonde hair and shining blue irises. She was standing with three other people, a wild looking boy with blonde hair sticking up in the air who looked strangely thin and hungry in a helpless sort of way, a pretty girl with dark hair who gave the distinct impression she needed approval from everyone and everything around her, and a tall swarthy boy with long hair and a distinct vibe of wanting to be part of something bigger.

Mal was standing in front of these three, between them and an unnaturaly pale woman with a long staff and flowing black robes. The woman was glaring at Mal, and I could tell without hearing a word that Mal was not supposed to care for these people, but that this blonde haired version of the girl was the part deep down that loved fiercely. No amount of programming could destroy a heart like this.

The woman (who for the love of god I think actually WAS Maleficent from sleeping beauty, or at least someone or something with delusions in that direction) was casting a deep shadow much too large for her body over the defiant girl. Her shadow was much deeper than the normal darkness around her, but a soft radiance shone from Mals skin softening up the shadows behind her, even as her hands reached out to try to grab handfulls of darkness, only to be ripped apart by twisted black thorns winding through the shadow.

This was who Mal was, this girl had been raised in the shadow of a mother who gave evil a bad name, and whats more raised to like it. She'd had her heart wrung out time and again, constantly trying to scour out the last of the love inside her, but she still loved and protected her friends with all she was. She didn't even understand the dichotomy between who she was raised to be and the loving fiercely loyal girl who protected what was hers.

And not just her friends, she loved her mother as well, even as she knew deep down her mother didn't and couldn't return her devotion. But that warriors heart couldn't give up on her, couldn't give up on the idea that being what her mother wanted might bring her into Mals light and teach her how to love her daughter. But the strangest part wasn't Mal or Maleficent or even that radiant glow, it was the monster in the dark.

A beast slunk through the wasteland, over and around rocks and outcroppings, flowing like a serpent. It watched Mal with the same burning emerald orbs my own eyes were staring into, but it held no malice. It was almost like it was waiting to be needed, waiting to show its mistress that it wasn't one with the darkness in that pitch black world, but just a dimmer shade of her own light.

And before I could get anymore I was back. I had fallen to my knees on concrete in the warehouse I had found for the summoning. All I could do was stare at her… and watch her stare back. "How could he do that to you?" Her glowing green eyes were overflowing with silent beautiful tears "He was supposed to be there for you, to protect you. They're supposed to make us feel safe."

My eyes softened as I looked at her, she had seen into my soul in return, and had undoubtedly seen what Justin had done. Which meant she knew what I had done in return. "I tried to stop him without hurting him, but he was just so strong and I was just so angry. I had to do it." I pleaded with this stranger, begging her with my heart in my eyes and pleading terror in my voice. I couldn't stand the thought of this beautiful girl hating me as much as I hated myself. Her tears were mirrored by my own, to my own mortification. "I didn't mean it."

And without a single word, Mal stepped through the circle, unable to contain her mortal flesh, and hurled herself against me. I wrapped her in my arms, stopping to unsling my coat to wrap around her naked form, and lowered us to the ground. And the strangest thing was that I thought I felt a slight tingling, like pins and needles, in my heart as the two of us broke down and cried. I held her to me, and we sobbed for the people who broke our hearts when they left us, and the people who hurt us even worse by staying.

 **Ok hi guys its King. Its been ages but I'm really excited about this one. I plan to do a lot of work on this regardless of attention. I recently saw descendants and despite being insanely corny and at times awkward, I absolutely loved Dove Cameron and couldn't shake this idea. In this Harry is sixteen and hes just killed DuMorne but hasn't been found by the council. I think Mal is an amazing character and will be great for Harry and vice versa.**


	2. Rainbows in the Dark

After we finished sobbing (which I became mortified at about halfway through) I held Mal against me. I hadnt ever done a soulgaze before, aside from an accidental one with my dad as a kid and one during my first time with Elaine. But my gaze with Mal seemed…different.

Thinking about it Mal shouldn't have been able to come through the circle, she may have been human shaped but those glowing green eyes made me think not totally mortal, besides a circle isnt a stargate, you cant use them to transport people like a portal. I guess she couldve come through the nevernever but I got the impression from her comments that she had been home, and then she had been here, no in between time to speak of.

I didn't understand how that could work…but I knew of someone who would. If I could get a second alone I could pull Bob out of my bag and ask him what was going on. But first thing I had a beautiful crying girl in my lap with no clothes and who hadnt eaten all night. I laid a tender kiss on top of her head, hoping to reassure her and turned her to face me "Hey Kitten, you must be hungry, how about you and I go and get some food. I know a place by here we can pick up something to eat and then maybe we can work on our next move."

She snuggled into me "But its warm here." I blinked at my own stupidity, of course the coat I gave her wouldn't be enough to keep her warm. As good as she looked swimming in my coat I needed to get her something to wear.

I gave her a wry grin "Sorry I didn't even think to get you clothes. We can snag some from one of the shops in town." I gave her a wink "I don't have much money but I know some tricks, besides I think this qualifies as an emergency situation. Snagging you some threads isnt gonna mess up our karma too bad."

She smiled up at me in gratitude and I stood, helping her to her feet. Her hands were soft and she smelled amazing, it had only been a month or two since Elaine had died, and I hadnt been around a girl in basically all that time. Not this close and certainly not one this pretty. I offered my arm to her "Shall we go?"

She giggled and took my arm with a wicked smile "Oh you poor sweet boy, trust me when it comes to stealing, I have my own tricks. Maybe ill be the one to show YOU a thing or two." We slipped out of the warehouse and walked arm in arm through the dimly lit streets, I had taken to moving from city to city while running from the council, at the moment I was staying in Tulsa. I had only been here a few days and had spent most of those in solitude so wandering around was pretty safe.

We walked up the street in companionable silence, Mal apparently casing nearby stores for he big clothes caper. I was going to let her slip off to steal the clothes herself, as it would give me plenty of time to consult Bob on the weird circumstances of her arrival. We finally stopped halfway down the deserted street by the dockside warehouse outside of a small but trendy looking goth shop. Mal was staring with wide eyed delight at the corset and pants on the mannequin.

She turned to me and grinned, stood up on her tip toes and gave me a quick peck on the lips before slipping into the alley beside the store without so much as a by your leave. Not that she needed my leave but a "back in a sec im going to steal this" would have been appreciated. It took a full minute for my legs to work again and I slunk into the alley on the other side of the street, withdrawing a bleached white human skull from my pack and sitting down.

"You catch all that?" The skulls eyelights winked to life with dancing orange flickers "of course I did, she sounded cute boss, I cant believe you had a mostly naked girl on your lap and didn't make a move. What a waste." I glared down at him "We were having a moment and that's not what I mean. Did you see what happened with the circle? I made sure to open the bag a bit and turn it toward the circle when Mal and I sat down. Something feels off, what happened?"

"Oh that" Bob said dismissively "Well looking at you now it looks like she may have eaten a piece of your soul to break out of the circle, hard to tell really, since all that cuddling mostly grew it back." I stared at him in horror "She ATE my SOUL!?"

Bob scoffed "Well abviously not the whole thing or you'de be dead. Based on what I could see of the circle she was summoned from a sort of allegorical world. Lots of symbolism and avatars of concepts and stories. Now the average storybook character would be able to come from there to here no problem, but since Mal isnt a story in her own right she had no link connecting her physical form from her world with this one. Without a link she had no way to step into our world and keep existing so she took a little something from you."

I stared at him in sustained horror and shock "But she ATE my SOUL!?" The eyelights flickered in a movement reminiscent of an eyeroll. "You mortals are so sensetive. You give and take parts of peoples souls all the time. Whenever you give someone a hug or to a smaller extent even a smile. Looks like the crumpet gave you a bit of hers too. You two have an oddly deep connection for such a short relationship. Like not married with kids deep but I imagine with that level of exchange you must be pretty comfortable with each other."

I shrugged, slowly becoming used to the idea of Mal eating part of my soul, since it'd be a bit hypocritical of me to be upset when I'd done the same thing to her. "When we gazed each other it was…different. We learned a lot about each other."

Bobs eyelights flickered pensively. That could explain some of the soul sharing, but not all of it. You're almost part of each other now, like when two people are in love, their sould become bound together so tightly that not even death severs the link. Yours is like that but maybe even tighter."

I blinked "So we're…soul mates?" The eyelights conveyed rolling again "That phrase is incredibly dramatic and even more overused but for lack of a better term, yes something like that. If I had to guess im assuming that your souls became intertwined during whatever shared emotional epiphany you had in the gaze and they sort of…equalized. Your positive charge from this world and her negative charge from hers cancelled each other out, so to speak."

I frowned "But if we both got equalized and she gained a real mortal form in this world, what the hell did the bonding do to me?" The skull was probably about to answer but I head the sound of someone approaching and jammed him back into his bag. I turned back around just in time to see a fully clothed Mal slip into the alley and give me a superior smirk. Which was somewhat lost on me with all the staring.

She was dressed in the corset top from the window with a simple pair of black leather pants. She caught me staring and turned around to show off "See there are perks to growing up evil, I'm already a great thief" She stopped with her back to me and gave her leather clad ass a little shimmy, throwing me a wink over her shoulder and almost making me groan out loud. Dear god the girl was gorgeous.

I shook my head clear ignoring her smug grin "Alright well we can figure out what to do after we get some food. Come on I know an awesome place, theres really cool circus esoterica in town and the ringmaster is really nice. He's a bit weird but he lets me do some work around there for free food from the booths."

Mal seemed intrigued "I've never heard of a circus, it sounds interesting." I grinned back at her "Oh trust me you'll love it. The cricus is normally pretty cool but this one is really creepy and interesting. Trust me, nobody does a circus like Mr. Ferro."

 **Ok guys day 2 chapter 2. Let me know what you think. Id love to see some reviews about the fic just so I have an idea if you guys like the direction. Cant wait to write more.**


	3. Love is like Oxygen

" Welcome to Ferro's bizarre and disturbing Circus Esoterica" Grinned the alarming little man at the entrance to the fairgrounds "Ah mr. dresden you've brought your lady to see the sights, and what a pretty little thing too" Todd's leering wink stretched his face into a smile that showed off all his yellowing teeth, he doffed his dirty newsboy cap and dropped into an oddly formal and solemn bow. A bow which probably would have been easier to take seriously if his eyes werent glued to Mal's admittedly perfect rack.

My eyes narrowed in distaste, out of all the people at Mr. Ferro's I liked Todd the least, the filthy mans ratty clothes and and matted dirty blonde hair always felt like too much of a contrivance to me. Todd was a dangerous thing, whatever he really was and the cockney accent and the ratty patched coat only served to make me more aware of his wrongness. Like he was wearing tight clothes with stripes on them to cover up an enormous bulk, there was something unnatural underneath his Todd-suit.

I stepped forward into the way of Todds leer, interrupting his line of sight. " Its her first time at the circus Todd, why don't we do our best to make sure she feels welcomed" I left a cold edge in my voice as I said the last and Todds eyes turned dark and cold, his smile sharpening into something vicious before I stepped up to him and looked him dead in the eye "welcome and safe, I'd hate to think of what might happen if she were to be harmed" I matched his cold smilt with my own glacial grin "I would be so distraught I cant imagine what I'd do."

His lip curled leaving his grin looking like more of a sneer " No boy, youre right about that, if you tried to make a scene here you cant possibly imagine the consequences." A smooth lazy voice drifted over us from behind the man "Now Todd I know I told you that Mr. Dresden was my guest and was to be treated with respect but for the sake of clarity I feel compelled to include his lovely young companion in my esteem."

A tall dark man stepped from the shadows, a tophat on his head and a red velvet coat snugly fastened around his waist and hanging down to his knees. Mr. Ferro's eyes burned with a lazy condescending intelligence above an equally blazing ruby pin in the black silk cravat that took up the majority of the chest visible through the black lapels of his crimson coat. A chain hung slung from one pocket to another,clearly attached to a pocket watch.

The mans clothes were even more contrived than Todds, but they didn't seem wrong on Ferro, Todd came across like a monster in a bum-suit but Ferro looked, comfortable, like the clothes became sophisticated and dark by virtue of being worn by him and not the other way around. He didn't seem like a monster in a human suit, he just seemed like someone tried to make a person and wound up making something new and better.

I had the feeling that Ferro didn't have a problem with accessorizing, no clothes would look silly on Ferro, they wouldn't dare. Todd ducked his head in submission and despite the fact that I was sure he was annoyed he didn't show a hint of it on his face. Clearly Ferro was at the apex of this little food chain, Todd didn't dare even voice his displeasure. Ferro turned to us and offered a laconic smile "Apologies Harry, Todd has been on the road with me a long time, and your new friend is just his…type"

The way he said that made it pretty clear that Todd had been thinking of eating Mal, and not in any way that she would enjoy even were she so inclined. Speaking of Mal she cleared her throat from behind me "Well he isnt mine, I like my men a little taller, she winked at me as she stepped around my bulk and into Ferro's line of sight. God the things that girl could do to me. She stuck her hand out toward Ferro "Hello I'm Mal, Harry says you let him eat here sometimes for work around the circus, I've never been to one of these but i'm a quick study and would be happy to help out too"

Ferro took her hand and ghosted his lips over the back of her knuckles. "No need for that miss, Harry is a wonderful young man who has been of some help to me, I'd hardly be so cold as to ruin his evening out with a beautiful young lady, enjoy yourselves and take in the sights, my gift to the young couple." Mal actually blushed a bit, "Well we arent exactly…I mean, I don't know if Id say…" She finally smiled demurely back and simply replied "thank you".

It was sort of bracing, realizing despite all we had shared I didn't know her that well at all, I had never seen her look demure before and couldn't help the fleeting thought that my Mal wasn't demure much. But I smashed it down. That was presumptuos of me, she wasn't mine, we hadnt even known each other that long and im sure she has no interest in being mine.

 **Mal POV**

For the love of darkness what did I have to do to show that idiot I was interested in him? I could sense his hesitation and it was driving me insane. Even after this short time I knew Harry was the sweetest strongest guy I had ever met, we had shared so much and I was sure he found me just as distracting as I did him. I couldve handled the creepy cockney come-on but the way he stepped up to defend me was just so sweet. And maybe this is the villain in me talking but seeing him basically threaten to murder that guy for me had me soaking through the thong I had squeezed into under these absolutely gorgeous pants.

Don't get me wrong, hes not gonna get to see them or anything, wearing thongs always made me feel like a bad girl which I was pretty much raised to revel in, but I was still a virgin and I'd never even had a boyfriend. But I still wished I knew wether Harry liked me too, I'd never been one for boys but something about what Harry and I had shared made me wish he would hold me again like he had last night. I felt so safe with him, I'd never been able to be vulnerable like that before, my mother wouldve had me tortured for weakness like that.

But Harry hadnt just allowed it, he had cried with me, he had met my show of weakness with his own, and somehow that had made it all ok. He had taken care of me since I got here, made sure I had clothes and food, protected me when he thought I needed it. I could actually trust him, id seen that much when we had that moment of connection in the circle.

I mustered up a bit of courage and took his hand as we walked and I felt him stiffen and then relax and smile at me before releasing my hand and instead putting his arm around me. I blushed and returned his smile with a shy one of my own. After we left Ferro and Todd we had wandered into the park proper, despite the oddness of the meeting and the strange sense of familiarity that I got from Ferro it slipped my mind pretty quickly, I had seen a lot of dark and disturbing things growing up on the isle of the lost but it hadnt been so…surreal. Since the island had no magic all the bad things that happened were of the crime and punishment variety.

But this place was…well even to me it was chilling, through an open tent flap I saw a man breathe fire onto another, with the second bursting into flames and turning to ash without a scream. Another man in a second tent was driving nails into the skull of a manically smiling man in black and white makeup, and a third tent contained what appeared to be a man climbing out of the mouth of a large cat, much to the animals apparent surprise. After walking down the central area (which Harry said was called a "Midway") taking in the sites I decided to get us talking.

I leaned my head against Harrys shoulder and said "So how did you find this place?" Harry seemed pensive for a bit before responding "I'm not sure I did actually, Ferro's showed up one day when I needed somewhere to get some food, one day this lot was empty then it wasn't. I think Ferro found me. Normally working at a place like this would bother me but everyone here is a pro and knows what theyre doing. No one gets hurt and I get to eat, ive been coming here for a week or two and I actually like it."

I frowned at something he'd said. "Found you? In what way?" He shook his head slowly "I cant exactly explain it, I'm sure you noticed Ferro and his site manager arent human?" I nodded "It was easy to tell, though for different reasons, Todd does a really bad job at playing human, but I think Ferro might be doing too good a job with his disguise. Hes just…too much." Harry nodded "That's actually a great way to describe it. But anyway my point is that Ferro showed up when it was really convenient for me and he's not exactly Joe Normal. The timing is a huge coincidence and I believe in those about as much as I believe in a free lunch, which by the way is part of what he offered me."

I chuckled at that "Youre a pretty suspicious person huh?" I felt him shrug against me. "You know the story, or at least a bunch of it, I'd imagine you arent overly trusting normally either." He went quiet for a moment "You know you can trust me right?" I smiled softly up at him "I do. Im not sure exactly why but I do trust you." We walked in silence for a minute or two after that before Harry finally said what he needed to " I don't know how to send you home."

My content smile turned sad "I know, I figured you didn't. Im going to miss my friends but im the one in a strange land not them so I don't have to worry about them, and things are interesting here. That's not to say I wont keep looking for a way back but I think I want to enjoy my time here while I wait." I summoned up as much courage as I could muster and looked up at him before slowly leaning in for a kiss. I turned into him as he pulled me against him, deepening this kiss and, to my immense satisfaction grabbing a handful of my leather clad ass.

I pulled away from him after a minute and he let me, I rested my forehead against his. He stared at my eyes, which I was sure were glowing green with arousal "This is crazy, I just met you, how am I already so attached." I giggled "Silly, that's how love works, it sneaks up on you out of nowhere and then its got you" He shook his head "The whole love at first sight thing isnt really a thing here, not normally, though now that I think about it your world is made up of fairy tale characters so im betting love at first sight happens all the time there. Here its usually slow, honestly by this worlds standards the fact that im even talking about being in love with you is crazy."

I smiled at him "well do you feel crazy?" He cracked a grin "Only about you. Which is kind of my point. This is super fast. Though I looked into what happened when you got here a bit, and it looks like we may have shared our souls." My eyes widened at that. Soul magic was a mysterious and powerful branch of the arts, and one I didn't know much about since it was primarily good magic and my mother didn't practice any. Even without magic on the island I had a firm grounding in theory from mother in all the most powerful disciplines, but soul magic was something of a mystery to her.

I took a moment to phrase the question "So…we're soul mates?" He grinned down at me "That's what I said and apparently. You got some of my soul to give yourself a tether to this world and I got some of yours though im not sure what it did to me yet, I cant really bring myself to be upset." I was elated at the idea that we were soul mates but that last part worried me.

Harry seemed to pickup the mood and tightened his grip on my ass, pulling me back against him for a kiss, and the idea of losing myself in him again was so enticing I didn't even break away to tell him when his eyes started to glow like blue lanterns in the dark. Just like my own glowed green. Im sure he wouldn't fault me for waiting a bit to bring it up, no sense ruining the moment.

 **Hi guys king here, longest chapter yet. Hope you guys like this one. To clarify the point from this chapter that I wanted to make plain in Mal's world love is a BAM kind of thing. Hits you out of nowhere and youre in it. Mal is from her own world even if she has a bit of Harrys souls and Harry has some of hers so their relationship is developing more like it would in that realm. Hope to hear what you guys think I really like the direction im going here. Read and review folks all feedback is appreciated.**


	4. Night Moves

After we'de spent some time exploring the deepest reaches of each others tonsils (or at least Mal's, I'd had mine removed as a kid) and I came incredibly close to having to change my pants (I'd never have told Mal but my girl could fill out a pair of leather pants and apparently she considered kissing a contact sport) I decided to slow things down. I very nearly had to dump ice down my pants to do so, but I didn't want to pressure her into anything. Magic soulmates or not the last thing I wanted was for things to get awkward.

Of course gentleman or not I kept one arm around her shoulders as we struck out in search of food. She looked so good I kept wanting to polish glasses I wasn't wearing to make sure she was real so I had no interest in anyone not knowing she was with me. I try to be chivalrous to women, and to my woman especially but I'm still a man damn it.

It was odd thinking of her like that, as my woman, everything here had happened so damn fast. But I couldn't be upset about it, out of the luck id had in my life the violet haired beauty sitting next to me adorably attempting to eat her first corn-dog with a puzzled frown was probably the best. She was so cute concentrating on it I almost hated to interrupt. But there were still things to talk about. "So you know about Justin, from the soulgaze, but theres some other things that you need to hear."

She listened raptly as I explained all about my life, my dad and Elaine and Justin and the council, who Justin had made it clear would show me no mercy without him around to protect me. I talked until I was blue in the face and then some more, and tears prickled at my eyes from the grief but I wouldn't let them spill, not here, not where all the people could see. Mal subtly snuggle up under my arm and held me closer. She knew some of it from the gaze, but she sat there and listened and cared while I spilled it all, and when I was done she chased off the tears with a gentle kiss.

"I'm not afraid, Harry. This council or whatever can come if they want but they wont take you." She gave me a possessive smirk "After all, what kind of dragon lets someone steal her treasure." I grinned warmly down at her "Well don't worry, I don't plan on getting us caught, those guys scare me, but it's a big world, and they've got bigger fish than me who've been running a lot longer. If I have things my way the council will never even catch a whiff."

I heard a gruff throat clearing from behind me. "Well hell Hoss, maybe you oughta get yourself a better deoderant." My face paled, the voice wasn't familiar but knowing my luck, they had to be council. Damn it Harry! Never tempt fate with witty remarks, this is like rule number 1! I turned to face the group, there were two large men in grey cloaks, flanking a big burly older man with a thick beard.

There was something about him that seemed familiar for a second but I brushed it off as a subconscious gandalf comparison and moved to stand in front of Mal. I tried to be slow and subtle about it but the man noticed and gave me a reassuring smile "Well now son, we're not here for your lady, we got no trouble with her, and hope not to have any with you." I scoffed at that "Old man, youre from the council, I'm pretty surprised I still have a head."

Mal laid a hand on my shoulder "Harry, honey I get the feeling we should hear them out, if they try anything we can fight but these guys look like they know what theyre doing." I turned back to the three men "Fine, for her, because It'll make her feel safer." The old man nodded and we all sat down at a nerby table to talk.

**Mal's POV**

The burly older man sat down across the table from us and the two large men followed suit. He seemed to be the leader, he nodded to us graciously as we sat down "my name is Ebenezar Mccoy, and if you aint already guessed it I'm with the white council of wizards." Harry tensed next to me but I laid my hand on top of his, Ebenezar noticed and winced "Now I reckon you've heard a bit about us and probably not all of it good, we take breaking the laws awful serious and normally you'de be dragged in for trial. I personally never liked Justin but if things had to shake out that way I'd have done it, luckily we seem to have stumbled into a better situation than you might think."

"Now you might not know this but the man, and I do use that word loosely, who owns this circus is mighty powerful, and enjoys a certain amount of autonomy within the supernatural world. Your presence here and being in his employ allows us to talk this out in a way that might not otherwise be possible."

" We know DuMorne is dead and that you killed him, but from the small amount of evidence we could find it looks like he had time to fight too. The more conservative elements of the council believe this was just one last spell before he died, but Justin DuMorne was a captain in the wardens and if he'd had time to fire off a death curse before being assassinated they'de have been finding pieces of you sticking to the outside of the international space station. Makes me think he knew what was going on and was confident he was gonna come out on top."

I studied the older man as he spoke. Something about him seemed so strangely familiar, which was literally impossible since I'd met probably three people since arriving in this world and only knew one well enough to… I cocked my head and inhaled deeply. Now I may not be a giant lizard at the moment but regardless of form im always a dragon and I knew my boy's scent by heart now. Scent profile is complicated, it's a mixture of cosmetics, toiletries, and an underlying base scent that's usually a mixture of hormones sweat and some odd unique markers I can only describe as bloodline. And this wizards base scent was incredibly similar to my Harry.

My eyes widened and I probably wouldve gasped, if I hadnt just finished inhaling as deep as I could as it was I let out a surprised whoosh of breath and the wizards head snapped over to me. I could tell from his face that he didn't want me to say anything, but short of actually hurting me (though from the waves of magic rolling off him like high tide he could easily do that) and I got the impression upsetting Harry was gonna make that a non option.

"Harry" he looked over questioningly at the soft tone in my voice. I had seen the inside of his soul just like he'd seen mine and I knew how horrifyingly alone he was, how abandoned he felt, and how not having those christmas mornings and Sunday dinners with a smiling mom and dad hurt him. I could feel it in the depths of my heart how much this would hurt him, but we were so new that and damage to the trust we were building could break us, and I wouldn't start our life together with a lie, even one of omission.

"Harry, we might want to hear him out, he…he has a good reason to want to help. Hes related to you…somehow. I can smell the blood tie even if I cant figure out what it is." Harry just blinked at me stupidly and the old man sighed. "Im his grandfather, though I would appreciate you two keeping that little fact damn secret, this isnt exactly friendly territory and chances are it wont stay that way long."

He fixed me with a glare "I hd my reasons for not mentioning that up front" his glare softened somewhat "but I suppose I couldn't expect you to keep it from him for someone you've never met. Damage control can come later." He turned to stare heavily at Harry "I am, as your girl says, a relative, your mothers father. Though I'd have preferred to keep that on the down low, seeing as im one of the most powerful wizards on the damn council and have made plenty of enemies. But that being said…its good to meet you Hoss." This last was said with a gentle expression.

"If it makes you feel any better" said a laconic voice from the shadows nearby "we already knew that anyway, and it had nothing to do with inviting the boy to work here." Mr. Ferro stepped from the shadows and at his side was an absolutely gorgeous woman. She looked about 23, tops, and had wild hair in plenty of snakelike braids, her hazel eyes blazed with intelligence and confidence and she seemed more than at home next to the clearly terrifyingly powerful Ferro.

She was also a dragon…a REALLY STRONG one. And I wasn't at all happy with the side of beef look she was giving Harry. I felt my eyes flash green and a growl rumbled up from my chest. Everyone in the clearing who had turned to look at the newcomers froze and slowly turned to stare at me, but I only had eyes for the threat. "Mine" She smirked at me and her eyes flashed a molten gold before I was crushed to the ground under an avalanche of blazing power. "Not to worry little sister, I aint here to steal your man, I mightve tried if you were so tightly bound but if I tried to take him now I might break him." She stole a glance at Harry and licked her lips "And not in a way he'd like" my growl grew louder and she rolled her eyes.

The pressure crushing me to the ground instantly abating as her gaze left me. Ferro looked annoyed at the female "Really Amelia, must you always do everything is loudly as possible? Learn some subtelty girl." The female, Amelia grinned unrepentantly, well im going to be helping them with their powers, so I had to see what I was working with didn't I?" She turned to me and gave me a wry smile "Sorry for the games but I had to see what you were made of. Allow me to introduce myself, the name is Amelia Hearstriker, and im your new teacher."

 **Hey all sorry for the wait, this chapter was a tough one but im starting to get some momentum I think, every review helps too. Amelia is from Rachel Aarons heartstriker series and she wont be the only character who is, theyre great books if you want to check them out. Theres gonna be plenty of crossover in this one, just cameos and such but im going to try to make it blend well and pick some lesser known characters I enjoy. Hope to hear from you all soon.**


	5. Where Dragons Rule

Mals POV

I blinked at the clearly insane woman. "my teacher?" She grinned condescendingly at me (I got the distinct impression that if I ever made this woman frown I should curl up and kiss my shapely ass goodbye). "Your as yours and his, biscuit, after all I'm sure you noticed a few of the affects of the mutation your little soul mixing has caused. You got your peanut butter all up in his chocolate, sweetness, and that boy was already a reeses peanut butter badass." I wasn't sure wether to preen at this beast of a womans assessment of my boy or get my hackles up over the admiration.

In favor of avoiding that goodbye kiss to my ass I decided to take it as a compliment. I head a noise from my side and saw I was clutching Harry a bit tight, I blushed and released his arm "Sorry love, I guess im a bit possessive." A lecherous grin flashed across his face, and thinking of where it might lead had me squirming in place "I don't mind you possessing me at all Kitten, just be more careful with the goods" he winked at me "besides that though what did she mean about you noticing the affects?"

I blushed out of both lust and embarrassment " well when we had our…um…moment earlier your eyes did the glowing thing that mine do, I was gonna tell you after we were done but I got a bit…" I gave him a hot once over "distracted." Harry gave a blush of his own and blinked at me. "Fair enough, I wasn't exactly on the ball myself." I think right about then he noticed all the staring. Amusement from Amelia, discomfort from Ebenezar, and stoic aloofness from thug one and thug two. Ferro wasn't staring at us, he was gazing boredly off into the distance, and I swear I saw his hand twitch toward the pocket I assume held his pocket watch.

I personally did give a shit what all these people thought about our flirting, Harry was Mine, and the only person who could tell me wether or not I could flirt with him was Harry. That being said I was a bit taken aback by my own forwardness (though maybe I shouldn't be, im always upfront about what I do, I just hadnt really flirted much for lack of interest) and my poor baby looked mortified about verbally sliding into second with his grandfather sitting right there so I decided to change the subject.

I glanced over to Amelia. "So you called me little sister, I take it you can sense me as I can sense you?" Amelias grin became confident and businesslike "Yes, very much so, youre incredibly powerful, and now even more so." I glanced at her, puzzled "Why? Harry and I exchanged pieces of ourselves right? If I got anything shouldn't I be just as strong, just maybe in a different way?"

Amelias hazel eyes flashed with amusement "This isnt a math problem honey, when it comes to magic two plus two really does equal fish. What do you know about dragons in this world?" I blinked at the apparent digression but answered just to see where she was going "nothing, I got here about a day or two ago, and youre the first I've met."

She nodded, taking that in "fair enough, basically speaking dragons here come in two types. Lowercase d dragons, like me, are actual physical dragons, the lower end of that spectrum tend to be tyrannical and vicious lizard beasts, and the higher end, which I am on tend to tyrannical and vicious shapeshifting lizard beasts with lots of magical power. Im also something of an anomaly since I tend to go looking for trouble to try to get stronger, Im a planeswalker and ive gotten stronger over the years in other worlds."

I absorbed that and motioned for her to continue "And the other kind of dragon?" Amelia chucked her head towards Ferro "That would be the big league boys like our fearless leader over here, Dragons with a capital D, manifestations of the primordial forces of the universe, they have tons more raw power than we do but some limitations present themselves that we don't have. There are checks in place to balance them out so they don't take over the world, the universe is symmetrical like that." I loked at her confused. "Ok I appreciate the run down but what does it have to do with us."

"The reason Harry was able to summon you was that someone had breached the barriers between your world and ours with some really horrifying dark magic. Whatever did it came through the breach and Harrys summoning happened at exactly the right moment, the universe used you to equalize things. However what the universe, or God or quantum mechanics or whatever you want to call it didn't tak into account was the fact that your worlds crazy definiton of true love picked you and Harry to be together. At this point were talking stuff way out of my league so all I can tell you is a whole bunch of crazy random things happened all at once and now you and Harry are both Dragons."

I just stared at her, and she rolled her eyes "We think the combination of the powerful magic and the soulgaze (yes we know about that) with whatever crazy magic true love is where youre from and the fact that being a character youre closer to Dragon than a dragon like me somehow made you both into full fledged epic badass Dragons like Ferro."

Amelia looked serious for the first time since id met her " However without those same limitations that Ferro has we think you two could be great friends to have, if we can teach you enough to help you survive whatever horrible thing came through that breach. It will of course want to kill you to take back whatever remnants of its spell you siphoned off and mixed into your reeses cup of love."

"Also it could potentially use those pieces to steal both your powers and Ferro and I, along with a few other parties who were alerted to the intrusion, would prefer not to have to try to destroy a nightmarish double Dragon beast, hence we need to teach you to defend yourselves." She added that last bit as an afterthought. "So…how about it. Com with me if you want to live.

 **Hey guys king again. Sorry about the wait but remember reviews make my typing fingers do the dance of writing. Ill try to keep the next wait shorter.**


	6. Caught up in you

Harry POV

We all sat in stunned silence. Ebenezar (my grandfather?) looked torn between shock, denial, and outrage. Mal looked to be taking things ok, though as someone who apparently grew up with fairy tail villains for neighbors I imagine she grades on a different curve when it comes to weirdness. Council goons one and two were stoic as per their aesthetic so far. "So…I'm a Dragon now?" I shot Mal a questioning glance she blushed a bit (which was still just as adorable as the first time) "Sorry baby, I didn't know that would happen, I know you must be upset."

I gave her a reassuring smile "Of course I don't blame you, after all I was the one who summoned you, if anything you should be mad at me." She fixed me with a scowl (which I assume was supposed to intimidate me but just made me melt a little).

"No I should not. Im not angry im here with you, im not angry youre a dragon now….and im probably some kind of dragon wizard thing. Im not even angry I havent had the urge to make a baby cry or kick a puppy since our little soul peek, what used to be my favorite things give me this weird uncomfortable feeling in my chest like when I broke something of my moms and I knew she was gonna find out."

I smiled at that (ignoring the kicking puppies thing on account of programming, we would have to work on some stuff) "Honey, that's called guilt and it's a good thing. A lot of the things your mom taught you to do and think were the opposite of what a lot of people learn, as a villain that makes sense but I want to try to teach you some things about how people think here."

She crinkled her nose in minor annoyance and gave a roll of her eyes as if to humor me. "Ugh I just know this is gonna be boring but if its for you I guess I can sit through lessons on being " she gave a tiny shudder "good" I grinned wickedly at her "Hey not all the time, being bad has its place." Her eyes flashed with lust (literally they lit up poison green) and I was about to elaborate when I heard a throat clearing.

I turned to see Amelia looking amused "As sweet as teenage hormones are we have better things to do than fantasize about how well little sister over here fills out a pair of pants" she cast a sly glance at Mal "even though she makes it work. Point is theres more at play here than training, mostly whatever interest the councils muckety mucks have here." She glanced pointedly at Ebenezar.

My grandfathers face shifted from mild discomfort to a steely mask of determination. "Since were all aware who he is I have no reason to hold back when I tell you we arent letting you have him. He may be in some hot water but I know I can clear him theres no way-"

I cut in before he could finish "That im putting my life into the hands of the white council of wand wavers. I appreciate the consideration gramps but theres no way I could gaurantee Mals safety while going through a trial, either from this monster thing that wants us or the wizards themselves. Theyde try to separate us at best and kill her at worst. Her safety is my first priority, so im going to take Ferro up on his offer to stay."

Amelia grinned "Excellent, then its settled. Don't make an issue of this Blackstaff, Harry deciding to leave was your only chance, your whole damn council couldn't take the kid from me, nevermind Ferro and his girl here getting into the mix." I noticed the weird name she called him but figured it wasn't the time. I smiled at him "Don't worry too much gramps, Ferro does some scary things, but as far as I can tell lying isnt one of them. If the big man says im safe here than safe I am."

The old man gave me the strangest look, a combination of sad and pitying and so very very tired. Then turned to Ferro "I cant force him to leave, but theres no pretenses here about who I am and what I can do. Maybe I cant kill you, even with my death curse but if you let anything happen to either of them youre gonna find yourself on the wrong end of a really nasty spell at the worst possible time. If my death curse wont end you ill make damn sure to hit you with it when something else will."

Ferro finally deigned to glance away from the dramatic middle distance and gave Ebenezer a surprisingly soft smirk. "Blackstaff you arent going to scare me, we both know that, but I respect your strength insignifigant as it is compared to my own, as well as your family loyalty. Ill watch over the boy, and whats more ill teach him to watch over himself. Besides he's going to be in a position to make quite a few powerful allies as the circus travels, we greet various powers in the areas we setup shop, politics you know."

Ebenezer looked mollified for the moment and stoodup to shoot a glance at me "keep your wits sharp boy, and if you need me you can always call" he handed me a card with a symbol on it "just burn the card after you feed in some magic. God go with you boy, even if I cant." And with that my grandfather gave me a nod and walked away.

Mal POV

I couldn't believe how crazy everything was getting. In the pan of a day or two I had been yanked from my home, met my soulmate apparently gotten more powerful and found two amazing new teachers. Some of it was good and some bad but it was all so overwhelming. I missed my friends terribly, I could just imagine what theyde say if they were here. Evie freaking out about me meeting Harry, Jay trying to steal everythin not nailed down, and Carlos freaking out about how cool the circus was.

I wished they were here every minute, but being with Harry was helping. He understood me so well after so short a time. Not anything big like stories about my past or anything but little things, knowing when I was hungry without needing to ask, feeling when to change the subject because I was sad, knowing when to put his arm around me because I was feeling alone.

Not to mention how he put me first. Ever since I got here everything hed done had been for me, first getting me clothes then taking me to a place we could eat, it wasn't that those were big things, just that it never occurred to him to do anything but help me, his first instinct was to make sure I was ok, I'd never had that before.

Harry was just….perfect, gallant and chivalrous without being doting or condescending, like he knew I could take care of myself but he couldn't stand to see me have to and felt bad about it. Plus he was so cute, so tall and wiry, like he could run for days. My friends were the only ones in my life who treated me like I was important and I protected them as any good dragon protects her treasures. But Harry, I was HIS treasure, and not even my mom had treated me like that. It felt good to feel…safe with someone.

But I was a bit worried, I knew that people outside the island didn't really go in for the villain thing, at the circus I felt a bit at home, since everything was so dark and creepy (I think Harry meant me to when he brought me here, he's so sweet) but I really needed to learn what things were ok because I had a feeling some of the stuff I did with my friends would not be ok here.

Harry had offered to help but I didn't want him seeing a side of me that might drive him off or embarrass him, I mean villainy in this world was right up there with doing something ridiculous like singing to him in public (which I had learned was not done here except in something called a carry okay bar, thank mom I was always unusually unmusical for my world) I decided I was going to ask Amelia to teach me some of that, if she even knew any of it. In the meantime I'd learn by watching Harry.

After the meeting ended Ferro gave us an offhanded wave away and renewed his staring and Amelia took us to our rooms. The tent they put us up in was AMAZING. Black velvet curtains with deep purple trim, a MASSIVE black bed with tons of fluffy pillows and two blankets, a huge deep purple sofa that looked to soft you could melt into it and a huge dark wood armoire for each of us complete with beautiful clothes I couldn't wait to try on (including some naughty stuff that made even me blush, thinking about Harry getting to see it…later of course.

Harrys clothes looked just as amazing though he seemed skeptical of some of them, I informed him with sugary sweetness that I would pick his clothes for him. He almost started arguing before I told him that if I could pick his he could pick mine, and I'd try them on for him till he found the one he liked. I could tell that he'd glanced at my armoire and seen some of the skimpier clothes because his eyes sort of glazed over.

The bathroom was (and don't ask me how they out a functioning bathroom in tent, I have no idea) absolutely amazing. A huge bathtub that Harry told me had jets in it which push water against you hard enough to feel like a massage, and an amazing shower with its own bench and tiled walls. It all looked amazing and there were tons of beauty supplies for me, some of which id never seen (I wasn't alone Harry didn't know what shower jellies were either).

Amelia finished our tour and gave us a sly look "training begins tomorrow at noon so you have time to sleep in" she winked when she said sleep in and I felt my blush come back but I didn't say anything till she left. I turned to Harry "Baby I-"

He cut me off instantly "I don't expect anything from you Mal, as fast as this has gone its still new, I would never push you into something, when youre ready to take things farther, I'll be on the couch. You can have the bed while we stay here." He gave me shy smile "You came into my life two days ago and youre already the most amazing thing in my world I could no more do something to make you unhappy than breathe water. We wont do anything you don't want t-" He was cut off with a grunt as I tackled him on the massive bed and almost swallowed his tongue. I made sure to roll my hips against him so he could feel how much I wanted him. I was so filled with love for his patience and the care he showed me I could hardly stand it.

"I'm not ready for sex yet, but I'm also not ready to let you spend a night anywhere but in my bed" I gave him a quick nip on the ear "Youre MINE, MY love, MY mate and youll stay by my side until its right for us" I gave a long slow lick up the side of his neck "And until then we can still have plenty of fun together" I yanked the string on the back of my corset and let it fall from my breasts, I rolled my hips again to feel him responding and nearly laughed at his slackjawed stare. "Now, I believe I was told it was alright to sleep in" I leaned in to kiss him hungrily before whispering in his ear "Be a gentleman and keep me up all night."

 **Hey friends, its King again. Last chapter was a bit short and the muse hit me so I felt inspired to write more. A few reminders, firstly I need reviews, they help me breathe, they give me inner strength. Secondly I want to remind everyone this fic is rated M, im trying to keep things a bit cooler than not in the sex department to get the pacing right but theyre teenagers and theyre like crazy in love so they'll be having sex pretty soon, if anyone has any issues with that this might not be the fic for you (I want to head off any flames about the smut, it will happen eventually this fic is M for a reason guys). For all my fans and supporters so far I really appreciate hearing from you, Aaronutte especially I was flattered by your review, and in favor of that im trying to focus more on this story than my others. Anyway thanks for reading guys and hope you like this one.**


	7. Paradise City

Harry POV

I woke up sleeping on what felt like a cloud, curled up next to what felt sort of like warm silk. I left my eyes closed nd squeezed what I was holding and got a grumbling moan as Mal wriggled to try to get more comfortable, and since she was once very skimpy thong away from being bare ass naked and I was wearing only boxers that wiggle did plenty of interesting things to me.

She peeked one eye open and gave me a wicked lazy smile "well hello there, looks like youre…up" she gave a little grind with her hips and I had to literally bite my tongue to keep from moaning. I groaned and threw back the blanket. The wind up clock on the bedside said it was 11:30 and training started soon, but I had to stop and gape at my nearly naked angel. She was pouting at me "Im freezing now, that was too evil even for me, get back under the covers and warm me up."

I fought with the urge to do exactly that but in the end training to keep us both safe was more important, if only barely. I gave her a grimace "I know baby but we train in a half hour and we need time for us both to shower" a wicked grin split her face and she opened her mouth but I cut her off "and no we arent going to share, because aside from us never getting to training you don't want things to go too far and having you wet and naked in front of me in hot soapy water I wouldn't be able to resist trying something." I gave her a slap on the mostly bare ass "now off with you, your shower will take longer since you have more hair to wash."

Mals eyes were glowing and she hurled herself at me flipped me over onto my back and pinned my hands. "that slap you just gave my ass" my eyes widened, did guys not do that where she was from? Was she upset? Hurt? Offended? She rolled her hips so she dragged herself over me and then shot down and nipped my ear "when we get home tonight youre gonna do it some more. Harder." I leaned up and gave her neck a light bite, which got a moan and grabbed a handful of her ass.

"Well that's unexpected, the self proclaimed bad girl likes to be spanked." She looked at my face "I don't know what that is, no ones ever slapped me there, or at all really, except my mom but that was in the face and it always hurt. That didn't hurt." I nodded, Mal was a princess basically, evil or not she was royalty and a dragon to boot, and from our gaze Maleficent seemed like a backhand you in the face mom, plus she'd never had a boyfriend so it made sense.

"Here its called spanking, and theres a couple reasons to do it guys do it with their girlfriends when they enjoy it, during sex usually, in a non sexual way parents do it to children who misbehave, and sometimes a guy will give his girl an affectionate slap on the ass as a kind of joking incentive to get moving or if done in public as a subtle way of letting other guys know shes his. Theres also some girls that ask their boyfriends to spank them as punishment when theyre bad as a sort of game, because it excites them and usually leads to sex."

Mals eyes (which had been glowing since I slapped her ass) were trained on mine, I wasn't worried about a soul gaze, that ship had sailed but I was a bit off balance. She looked a bit uncertain, then her face hardened with resolve. "I want you to do that." I blinked in confusion losing the thread for a second staring at both her beautiful expressive face and her very bare breasts right above me. "Do what? You already said you wanted me to later."

Mal shook her head "I don't know whats ok and not ok here, Ive been taught the wrong thing most of my life and I need to learn to be good, so I want you to spank me when I'm bad, so I can learnt to do the right thing." My eyes were almost literally crossed with how hot this situation was but I could tell she was serious. "Ok that makes sense but the thing is you seem to really enjoy spanking, if I do it when youre bad wont you be tempted to do more bad so it happens more? How about I spank you when youre good. That way you have incentive to try."

Mal looked someberly at me and nodded. "Ok then, one slap every night for every good thing I do that day or evil thing I resist doing. I'll keep track." She rolled off me and popped to her feet, which caused some interesting bouncing "alright well time to get ready, we've wasted a few minutes and we still have to shower. She dissapeared into the bathroom and I fell back to the bed to stare at the ceiling.

I was smiling, that exchange had been both insanely hot and kind of cute, but Mal managed to do that all the time, my smile was mostly for where I was. Two days ago I was an orphan fugitive living on the street alone. Now I was a Dragon living at the circus with his mate and teacher learning to harness my powers. The dragon stuff was odd, I felt like it would bother me more if I didn't have Mal, but she was a Dragon and she was amazing so it couldn't be that bad.

She had saved me, Elaine was dead, I was betrayed by all the people I loved and theyde died by my hand, I couldn't imagine how I wouldve lived with myself without Mal. I was going to learn and get stronger to keep her safe, she was beautiful and fierce but I could tell she'd never had anyone to take care of her. She got so surprised by little things I did for her, as if no one had ever cared.

I heard the shower turn off and Mal stepped out of the bathroom naked and drying her hair. And as heartstoppingly sexy as she was I didn't feel lust as I looked at her, I felt love, pride for her strength, sorrow for her wounds. I stood up and walked over to her and pulled her into a hug. She stiffened somewhat and then relaxed and put her arms around me. And we stood there together for a minute just holding each other.

I pulled her over with me to the bed and we sat down. "Youre sad." I stated with certainty. Her eyes widened "No I had an amazing night, I'm not so happy to be waking up to train but I'm happy being with you." I nodded "I know, and I love that you are but that's not what I mean, I know when I asked you about staying you said your friends would be fine and changed the subject but I know you still miss them."

She frowned for a second, pensively then spoke "My mother is…distant, and sometimes cold. I grew up being taught that caring is weakness. My friends were the only people I was allowed to get attached to without it being considered pathetic. I do miss them, every day. I think of them all the time, because in a way theyre my family like my mom never really was. I didn't realize how awful she was to me until I met you and saw what Justin did. Saw how your dad was before, and realized that's not how parents are supposed to be."

She smiled warmly at me. "But I know ill see them again, were connected. And right now youre my family too, in a way no one ever has been. I feel things with you I've never felt before. I feel safe, loved, and cared for. So yeah I miss them but I don't wish I was somewhere else. Because right here with you is where I belong." She stood up and touched my cheek. "Now go get your shower and get dressed, we're gonna be late."

It took me all of ten minutes to get dressed and ready in the outfit Mal had picked for me while I was in the shower. A white long sleeved shirt and a black vest with black slacks (I was a bit relieved, with how adventurous Mal was with clothes I had half expected something with leather and zippers.) I handed Mal a pretty green sundress that went with her eyes and because im a guy and no one besides me would get to see it some fairly skimpy lingerie she modeled for me before putting on the dress.

Needless to say we were late to training, because the lingerie lead to some fairly heavy making out until we looked at the clock. We got to Amelias training ground at about 12:45. It was situated right next to…the…river.

Amelia saw the look on my face as we approached and laughed. "We left Tulsa last night while you were sleeping. We're on the edge of london now. Ferro doesn't like to stay in one place too long and the white council could be annoying if they came back. Youre forgiven by the way, for the forty five minute wait, id ask what you were doing but it was probably just each other so I wont bother."

Mal blushed and moved to speak but Amelia stopped her. "No talking, its listening time. Gather round kiddies. Time to start the lesson."

Mal POV

Our day was exhausting but enjoyable. Amelia taught us plenty about Dragon magic even I didn't know. She spent hours going over the basics (calling fire was the first thing every dragon learned, and luckily Harry seemed to be very talented at flame control) and even went into shifting Harry could only do the eyes (and arousingly, his tongue, something we would look into later tonight) and after about five hours we finally quit for the night for dinner.

We ate at the catering tent for the staff, which was amazing, Harry showed me tons of new foods I've never tried and I showed him that a huge appetite is one of the biggest benefits of being a Dragon. We ate prime rib and filet mignon, macaroni and cheese, barbequed ribs and apple pies, cheesecake and gumbo, jambalaya and beignets. Harry showed me all his favorite food, when he was younger his dad was a stage magician and they traveled a lot so he got to taste all kinds of things.

Harry told me stories about his dad and, after some prodding and a bit of tension, about Elaine, his first love. He told me about his friends at school and at the orphanage he's been at before Justin came to get him and in return I told him about my friends. About Evie and her obsessive vanity, about Jay and his kleptomania, and Carlos's dog phobia, and because we were together things that might have been sad were just happy memories and we laughed together about the things that made us who we are.

After dinner Harry and I walked back to the tent under the stars, it was dark now and the sundress he picked for me wasn't exactly warm so Harry put his arm around me. I smiled in bliss at how perfect everything was, knowing tomorrow we would need to greet some of the monsters of this city.

 _ **Lemon Ahead (warning you guys now so if you don't want to read it the chapter ends here. Also this is my first lemon so don't be too hard on me. Im trying to separate the lemons out so the story doesn't become all about sex.)**_

Harry POV

When we got back to the tent I was nervous. Some of the things we talked about this morning excited me and I wasn't sure if it was something Mal really wanted or not. But as soon as we got in Mal took me by the hand and led me to the bed. She sat me down and looked at me a bit shyly. "Fifteen times tonight."

I smiled at her and kissed her softly "Alright clothes off, but don't go too fast" I gave her a wicked grin "I like seeing you undress" She slid the sundress over her shoulders and shimmied it over her breasts then her hips until she was in only her bra and panties. She unclipped the bra and let it fall to the floor then reached for the underwear.

I stopped her, she looked hurt by the action but I smiled "you look amazing but I want to do this part" her breasts were heaving with quick little pants as her breathing got shallow and I hooked my fingers in her panties and pulled them down. Im not sure why it surprised me but neatly trimmed purple triangle of hair between her thighs was shocking. I knew her hair color was natural but purple isnt something you expect between your girlfriends legs. It was oddly arousing though I have to say.

I smiled at her "Would it make you more comfortable if I was naked too?" Mal bit her lip in literally the cutest gesture ive ever seen and nodded. I quickly stripped out of my clothes down to the boxers but Mal stopped me and slid the boxers over my hips herself. We'de played around and she had felt it pressing against her plenty but shed never actually seen my dick. The way her eyes widened at the size was pretty gratifying I had to admit regardless of the fact that she hadnt seen any others as far as I knew.

"Alright, so just lay down across my lap, you said fifteen right? If you want me to stop at any point just say so." She nodded and then laid down. Her ass was so round and smooth and I could feel her pussy burning and wet against my thigh her stomach was soft against my dick. "Ok are you ready? How do you want to do this? Fifteen fast or slow?" I felt her squirm "How do girls usually do it here?" I paused "I don't have a ton of experience with this either but I think usually the girls into this kind of thing say thank you and then ask for another until theyre done." She got even wetter against my thigh.

"Ok we'll do that. Go ahead baby." I took a deep breath brought my hand down across her left ass cheek. She squealed and wiggled before saying with a breathy voice "one, oh god thank you baby, can I have another?" I brought my hand down again on the same spot and she moaned "two, more baby please."My eyes were almost crossed from the lust. " Im going to do three this time count them off" I brought my hand down three more times. She was rolling her hips against my thigh moaning "three, four, five, god Harry don't stop keep them going." I grinned at her instructions "yes ma'am" and brought my hand down five times in succession.

She was grinding her pussy into my leg desperately now and I was glad Id taken off my pants or theyde be soaked, not that I'd even care at this point. "Oh fuck, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, make the last five harder baby, slap it harder." I was almost so turned on I couldn't think but I managed to do what she asked. Getting my hand that close to her pussy especially when I could feel how wet she was on my leg was killing me but I grit my teeth and gave her the last five hard slaps on her bare red ass.

She was panting and quirming and almost screamed her last five "eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, oh the hell with waiting Harry you better fuck me right now!" I reached down to slide my fingers over the lips of her nearly dripping pussy and up to her clit. "Oh god, fuck me Harry fuck me fuck me fuck me" she threw her leg over mine and sat up and I felt that hot pussy against my dick, god I wanted it inside her so badly but I knew she wanted to wait even if she didn't right now.

I grabbed her and flipped her on her back and slid down to her pussy "Harry you better get that dick inside me right no-" she stopped talking when I gave a long slow lick along the outside of her pussy. Her hand grabbed a fistful of my hair and slammed my head down, forcing my mouth down to her clit. "Oh fuck, nevermind god that's good, eat me baby please"

I sucked her clit into my mouth and heard her scream my name, I used the transformation that Amelia taught us earlier and shifted my tongue sliding it down over her clit before snaking it into her pussy and flicking her g-spot while I rubbed her clit with my thumb. And suddenly she couldn't take it any more and she came screaming "oh fuck Harry I love you!" She yanked my hair and rode my face for another minute or two before she finally finished her orgasm and slumped back to the bed.

I laid down next to her and pulled her against me. She looked at me with a mixture of post coital bliss and love "you didn't fuck me. Even when I begged." I smiled and kissed her " you didn't want me to. If you thought it was the right time youde have said so before we started I didn't want you to regret it." She kissed me hard on the mouth again. "I love you so much. Now its your turn", she said wrapping her soft hand around my dick "and I have a surprise for you."

I grinned at her wickedly "and whats that?" she grinned mischevously as she slid down my body. "besides having longer tongues, Dragons also don't have a gag reflex." And then it was my turn to grab a fist full of her hair.

 **Alright guys a lot more happened this chapter than you might notice at this point. The circus moving to london will be important as will the metting Mal mentioned before the lemon. As for the lemon I've never really kept it a secret that this fic is rated M feel free to skip it if youde like its clearly marked. That was my first lemon ever so I'm not sure if it was up to snuff, I'm sure ill get better at them as I go. This is King signing out hope you enjoyed my longest chapter yet.**


	8. Free Will

Harry POV

The next morning found us cheerily enjoying the streets of jolly old london town (which im told no one who lives there actually calls it ever), we went all over the place. Mal was positively giddy at finally seeing bit more of our world, and Amelia mentioned to us that we had several hours before we had to me the big muckety muck who ran things around here to greet him for the circus.

"Harry!" Mal nearly screamed with excitement "What is that giant wheel thing over there by that river!?" I was in awe of how adorable she was. I consulted the book I'd heavily overpaid for (Amelia and Ferro had a disdain for paper money and just handed us a bag with stacks and stacks of it) and skimmed till I found the right page "Its called the London Eye, or the Millenium Wheel, apparently theres a great view but the waits are crazy. How about we go see Big Ben?"

After an explanation of what Big Ben was, and a picture in the guidebook we decided to go see Big Ben and then get breakfast. The waits at Big Ben werent exactly nonexistent either but they werent terrible we got in and out in about 3 hours and decided to look around for a pub to eat at. We found a little place called The Three Tuns, on some street called portman mews. The inside was pretty novel to me, lots of dark wood and brick pillars. We got a booth in the back corner under the TV so it didn't distract Mal too much, but only after I promised I'd catch her up on TV later.

We went over the menu for a while, I decided to get the fish and chips (because im an ignorant american and bangers and mash never sounded appetizing to me) and Mal settled on the Hunters chicken (because the name sounded cool though she wouldn't admit it) and we settled in to wait.

"Your circle was off mate, im telling you, youre lucky that puny little demon didn't tear the bloody thing apart and eat us both." An aggravated voice muttered from the booth to our right. Apparently another Dragon perk was good hearing. "Shut up Taylor, if thered been a flaw the demon wouldve exploited it, it's a purely artistic choice for the placement of the symbols for shape and form, theyre totally interchangable. I've been doing this just as long as you have you berk."

I could almost hear the responding eye roll "Oh god forbid anyone correct the mystical stylings of the great John Constantine, and good lord beanstalk if you and your bird want to part of the conversation so bad come over here and sit down because you're certainly not keeping up the illusion of privacy from there" Mal rolled her eyes and smacked my shoulder "Great job Harry, our first date and you get me busted for eavesdropping. Whats next, gonna get us grabbed by the city gaurds?"

I blanched at the realization the this was technically our first real date and I hadnt done anything special, and tried not to laugh at her city gaurds comment before turning to Mal " Sorry baby I shouldve taken us somewhere nicer for our first date I just kind of thought the carnival was our first, in hindsight we did get a bit interrupted but I promise you something special in the next couple days ok, I need some time to pull something big together."

I turned to our new friends as we slid into their booth " And sorry about that guys your conversation caught my ear and I couldn't help but listen in, we're students of the art too, albeit a different branch most likely, Im Harry Dresden, and this is my girlfriend Mal. How did you guys know we were listening?" The first guy who spoke, the one with messy light brown hair and an easygoing smile stuck out his hand "Good to meet you mate, names John Taylor, and I've done some freelance work as private eye in my time"

He puffed up his chest a bit, and his platinum blonde friend leaned in "well they probably already guessed you were a dick" He grinned unrepentantly at his glaring friend and bumped him out of the way grabbing Mals hand and leaning in to kiss her knuckles "and im John Constantine, love, master of the mystic arts, if your boy here isnt treatin' you right id be happy to take his place." I felt my eyes flash blue and my will, tangible in its power even as I could still feel it growing to assume its final strength, smashed every living person in the pub flat.

Taylor sat unnafected by the assault, an eyebrow raised in interest, and Constantine, who I'll give the benefit of the doubt and say was distracted and didn't try to shield was slammed face first into his plat of mashed potatoes and sausage (weird right? Apparently THAT'S bangers and mash). Taylor burst out laughing and Mal started to giggle at the potato covered teen who glared at me resentfully.

"Oi! Only joking no need to be so uptight, bloody hell you've got a bit of the gift there don't you." I smirked at him "Sorry, MATE, guess im a bit territorial." Mal was next to me grinning smugly and leaned in to kiss me hard "Of course you are, and if I ever see some girl try to take whats mine im gonna rip her ass off and wear it as a hat."

I grimaced at the imagery "Well that sounds like a fashion disaster." I grinned at our lunch companions seeing the waiter out of the corner of hurry over I turned to see what he wanted "so sorry sir but there was some kind of earthquake or something and I dropped the food, don't worry ill pay for your meal" I shook my head and smiled "Its fine just put the new ones on our bill, we don't have any money problems its nothing." I hoped he didn't push it, I felt terrible that this guy might be out money because I lost my temper.

The guy hurried away and I turned back to John and…John, ok Constantine and Taylor it is. "Well that was awkward, starch is a great look for you by the about we start over, Mal and I are new in town and have a few hours to kill, you guys know any good places to go?" The two boys turned to each other and grinned wolfishly. I suddenly had a very bad feeling.

Mal POV

I thought the way Harry snapped when Constantine flirted with me was pretty adorable. And I was excited as all getout to figure out where they were taking us, I was sure these two were my kind of people, they were troublemakers who got into all sorts of problems I could already tell. So I admit I was a bit dismayed when we showed up in a brick alley and took a set of stairs down to a plain metal door. Constantine knocked on the door in a swift jerky pattern and the slot in the metal opened.

"Password?" Our new companions glanced at each other and Taylor nodded. Constantine looked over at the door and said "Elysium" and the door slid open. We stepped through it and we were…in awe. The alley was gone, no bricks or cement or city. Just miles and miles of rolling green fields. The sunlight was brighter than I would normally have liked and ther clouds were fluffy and white but I couldn't help but be overjoyed about the weather, and the flowers, and the smell of the air.

Harry was looking just as stunned as I was and I hurled myself into his arms "Oh Harry isnt this wonderful?" I couldn't stop grinning at the beauty around us, even my programmed hatred of all things good and sweet wasn't making this place any less superlative. Harry pulled me close and gave a rapturous smile "It's amazing, I've never seen a place like this before. It makes me almost as happy as you do." I turned to Constantine and Taylor "Guys what is this place? Its amazing."

Constantine smiled "This, luv, is the Arcadia project. This place was constructed by powerful mages to create a place where everything goes right, where hapiness comes true and all your dreams become real. Disneyland can eat its heart out ducks, THIS is the happiest place on earth." I pulled myself away from Harry and wrapped Constantine in a huge hug. Harry didn't look jealous at all, we didn't have any room in our hearts for petty things like that here.

John (because Constantine is a long, formal thing to call a friend, and John brought us here after all) grabbed my hand and Harry grabbed my other and we all ran to the river nearby, while Taylor (which is much shorter than Constantine after all, and we could hardly call them both John) strolled happily behind us. We spent the next few hours swimming in the clearest sweetest water I'd ever seen and telling each other all about our lives.

Even the bad stories werent as hard here, in this place where sorrow couldn't touch us, because after all those moments had led to us being here together. After what seemed like ten minutes the metal door appeared and Taylor told us sadly that our time here was at an end, because places like this are all the more special for their briefness, we dried off and walked out into the alley.

I glanced over at Taylor "It's a shame we only had a few hours, this was the best day I've ever had." Taylor smiled sadly "We couldn't have stayed anyway, it costs to come to a place like this, some people burn their whole lifes savings spending a few weeks sitting on the river bank staring at the coulds and dreaming. I did the owner a favor, and he gave me a pass for a few hours as a reward, but don't get too caught up in it. Places like that arent real, and they can destroy your life if you let them."

I gave John and Taylor each a big hug and so did Harry, promising them we would give them a call before we left town, and hand in hand we set off for the circus. Harry looked at my pensive expression as we walked and seemed concerned "You alright?" I smiled softly back at him "I'm fine, it was a wonderful day and we made two amazing friends, I just kind of miss the ones I had. Id have liked them to see that place."

Harry gave my hand a gentle squeeze "Someday we'll be powerful enough to go get them, and we can bring them there for a few hours, ok?" He looked right into my eyes "I love you Mal, and I promise I'll do everything I can to try to bring your friends here so you can be with them, or maybe we can visit them there. Whatever you want to do. It doesn't matter to me where we are. Youre my home." I felt tears silently course down my cheeks as I hurled my arms around him. "And you're mine, Harry. No matter where we are."

Harry POV

Amelia met us at the entrance to the circus, she didn't seem to notice our euphoric mood, just shooed us off to our tent to get dressed in formal clothes. Apparently we were going to a party. Mal picked out a black tux with tails and a purple silk vest and bow tie. I picked her a gorgeous purple silk dress. It was only on one shoulder and matched her hair, and she was so beautiful I could hardly stand it.

"So" I asked Amelia as she picked us up in a sleek black town car (her dress was amber and strapless, she also looked beautiful though I refrained from mentioning) "Who exactly is this bigwig we're supposed to be schmoozing?" Amelia actually laughed at me "No schmoozing kid, Ferro is the top of the food chain, he deigns to send an envoy to alert city leadership to his presence and smoothe his way, but its not like hes asking permission. If anything they'll be schmoozing us. But if youre asking whose party this is, theyre a group who call themselves the Authorities. Pretty hush hush and they arent coming in person but they send envoys like us and setup a huge party as a welcome."

I raised my eyebrow at that "So were flunkies getting fawned over by other flunkies because our boss who isnt going to be there is tougher than their bosses who arent going to be there?" Amelia grinned "You catch on quick kid. The guy who theyre sending is their right hand man, and he's the one who makes everything happen in this town anyway, theyre super paranoid and never seen in public, so this guy is the one who makes all the moves."

That sounded…a bit worrying, London was a big city and seemed unruly, if this one guy could control the whole damn place he must be a badass. But we had Amelia with us, and she was no slouch. Mal seemed focused on the same thing "So this guy, he's pretty scary im guessing, to handle a whole town on his own?"

Amelia just shrugged "Big fish little pond comparitively speaking, these hard nose guys are all about inflating the rep so its hard to know what to expect but I know his bosses are afraid of Ferro, and hes afraid of them, so I'm guessing hes not in my weight class. Im Ferros partner for a reason, trust me I can handle myself, I may not be the big man, but Im not like anyone else you've met either."

Mal seemed pensive at that "Hey Amelia, what exactly is your relationship with Ferro? Are you guys together?" Amelia actually laughed at that "Ive dated some pretty distant guys, I'd like to sat its not about my absent father but my family has more issues than time magazine so I cant begin to guess. But no Ferro isnt the relationship type. Hes more of a mentor to me, I tried to kill him once when I was young and very stupid, and he saw something in me and decided to teach me a few things."

My eyes widened "You tried to kill Ferro?" I didn't know the elder Dragon well but if he scared the white council and enough people that no one raised a fuss when he just blew into any town he wanted he was Powerful with a capital power. Amelia gave a wistful smile "Yeah a long time ago. Didn't go well. Ferro is scary, trust me, don't ever pick a fight with him. Im only alive by his charity." The car pulled up at a luxury hotel and we all got out, the valet taking the car. I offered Mal my arm as she got out and she smiled radiantly.

"This" she leaned in and whispered in my ear "Does not count as a date." I groaned through my massive grin "ok fine, your date is still to come. But if itll change your mind I called and invited John and Taylor." Mals smile lit up "Minds not changed but that's definitely gonna earn you some good will later tonight. " She winked at me and my heart quickened.

My girl was still the sexiest woman I'd ever seen and exposure was not dulling the impact. I was glad I'd called our new friends, not just because of the promise of *ahem* good will, but because it made Mal happy, and besides, the four of us had grown really close during our time in the project. If you ever want to make friends fast have hours of heartfelt conversation in a magical place where dreams come true. Amelia rolled her eyes "Thanks for the warning about the plus two. Oh well, I suppose it doesn't matter. So when are they getting here?"

"Its rude to talk about a bloke like hes not around luv." I heard Johns cockney drawl from behind us and turned to see him in a rumpled tux, with Taylor behind him in a similar mostrosity. He stepped up to take Amelias hand and kissed her knuckles "Charmed luv, I'm pleased to make your aquaintence." Amelia looked delighted and ruffled Johns hair "Its adorable! And it has plenty of magical potential too, can I keep it if I promise not to break it? Ill feed it and everything!"

John looked a bit lost for words (something I had grown to notice was a rarity) and I scowled at Amelia. "People arent pets, if youde like to play with him youll have to get his permission. As for keeping him I imagine he'd be opposed but I cant really speak for him." John was about seventeen, to Taylors eighteen and Mal and my sixteen, and Amelia only looked early twentys, but with immortals you could never tell. I wasn't putting my foot near the pit of snakes that was Amelias dating life, John was on his own, I make it a policy never to get involved with the dating problems of people with names like Heartstriker.

John looked disturbingly interested in Amelias offer so to defuse the situation I cut in "So, how about we all go in and enjoy the party." Mal grinned at that "I think im going to enjoy it a lot more with those two here, somehting tells me they know how to liven a place up." John gave a gallant bow while Taylor laughed and I grinned. The inside of the hotel was as extravegant as the outside was impressive.

The façade of dark stone with horrible gargoyles on the corners and huge columns along the overhangs made quite an impressive sight, but it was nothing compared to the inside. White and gold spanned the whole ballroom, candles in golden sconces casting light merrily over the white marble floor with its gold leaf inlay, and sparkled over the party through the massive crystal chandelier.

"Bloody hell" said John "This is pretty posh, howd you swing an invitation like this your first night in town?" Taylor seemed less impressed and remained quiet, taking in everything and growing more and more tense, I didn't know what had him so agitated but I doubted it was good.

"They travel with a rather impressive benefactor. And bestill my heart, John Taylor, how good to see you here my boy." Taylor froze in place as we all turned to see the well dressed gentleman in the bowler and suit "Apologies on the interruption but I thought it best we make introductions before the party hits its swing, I'm here to represent the Authorities, you can call me Walker."

 **Ok guys big chapter here lots going on. Just to let you know I don't own John Taylor or Walker or the authorities if you don't know them. Theyre from simon r greens nightside as is the arcadia project. Constantine is of course dc. There will be A LOT of crossovers in this fic, so be prepared. Last chapter I focused on the romatic relationship between Mal and Harry and even included a lemon, didn't get many reviews back on that one so guessing people wanted back to the action. As for the reviews from the previous chapter I was happy to hear from you guys, to answer a review froma guest btw yes Ebenezar is a heavyweight and could probably level a small city with his death curse, but Ferro is a capital D Dragon. In the rpg material and in interviews Butcher states that theyre up there with Mab on the powerscale, just under the archangels, Ebenezar is basically a really impressive fly to Ferro. Any hope to see reviews thanks for reading guys.**


	9. Ballroom Blitz

Harry POV 

I wasn't sure who this guy was exactly, I assumed he was the toadie Amelia mentioned earlier, the guy who ran things in London for the Authorities. Taylor looked so angry about the guys presence he was barely holding onto sanity, and as soon as he heard the guys name John went white as a sheet. Whoever he was his name was a big deal around here, and from the rage on his face Taylor at least knew him personally.

He grinned wolfishly at Taylor, almost ignoring the rest of us, somewhere on Taylors face, behind the anger I saw the slightest hint of fear. That hint was more than enough for me to step in. Aside from being my friend Taylor was a younger smaller guy being bullied by an older more powerful figure, I hate people who mess with my friends almost as much as I hate bullies.

I moved past a startled Amelia and a concerned looking Mal to stand between Taylor and Walker, extending my hand "Your business tonight isn't with my companions its with my teacher, my mate, and I. John Taylor and John Constantine are our guests and enjoy the same protections and courtesies we do."

Which was technically true under the laws of hospitality, even if it didn't mean Ferro would lose his shit if they were harmed like I was insinuating it did, I had Ferros explicit protection, but I also had the protection of being an invited guest, which technically John and Taylor shared, I was just really hoping Walker didn't question it. "My name is Harry Dresden, disciple and proxy of the great Dragon Ferrovax, and this is my teacher Amelia, and my mate Mal." Walker reached out and shook my hand with a raised eyebrow.

Amelia had schooled us on the political etiquette before we showed up but I was playing fast and loose with the rules of hospitality here so I was pretty much out of official rhetoric. I was willing to throw down with this guy to protect Taylor, and I was pretty sure Mal would do the same in a heartbeat. Amelia was a bit up in the air, but she was under orders to keep us in one piece so she would probably step in if we got too messed up.

As I suspected though it wasn't an issue, Walker was under his own set of orders, and attacking an invited guest at a party like this essentially incites an all out brawl. If Mal or I were harmed in that fight Ferro WOULD kill him, and his bosses too, if Amelia didn't manage it first. What really disturbed me was the eagerness on his face, I got the impression that, hospitality or not, if he had an opportunity to make Taylor silently disappear tonight he would.

Mal stepped up next to me, nearly blocking Taylor from sight before curtsying (which was almost too shocking to comprehend, my girl didn't curtsy) "Lovely to meet you Mr. Walker, I hope to see you around the party again once we've had time to mingle." And just like that, Mal essentially both sucked up and told the old man to get lost. Walker gave a wry smile and a nod to us and gestured us inside the ballroom.

As we walked past I felt everyone in our group except Amelia tense up. Her brown, snakelike braids flung wildly every which way as she grabbed John by the arm "Come on Johhny lets dance!" I once again got the impression that wouldnt end well, but John was a big boy, plus I think he'd have decked me if I'd pulled the absolutely gorgeous if not slightly older (physically at least) Amelia off his arm. Mal (who probably had a similar though about keeping an eye on him) grabbed Taylor and dragged him, protesting (albeit weakly) onto the dance floor.

Sighing at the misfortune of being a big bad Dragon, and mated for life to my true love, and somehow still managing to wind up a fifth wheel resigned myself to lean against a table in the corner and scavenge from the absolutely amazing buffet. Being able to eat my weight in anything I wanted was easily my favorite part of being a Dragon besides finding Mal. I heard a low chuckle behind me and turned, to see an absolutely drop dead gorgeous girl about my age covering her mouth and laughing at me.

Now I'm in a monogamous happy relationship with my true love (at least I hope its monogamous, I don't know if I needed to really define the relationship with Mal, but I should probably do it just in case) but I am not dead. This girl was…wow. Pitch black hair falling in gentle waves ice blue eyes so deep and cold you could probably find parts of the titanic in them, creamy milk white skin and a button nose, on top of an adorable cupids bow mouth currently curled with amusement at me shoveling food into my fat reptile face.

Doing my best to avoid falling into those eyes (a literal danger for me, being a wizard) I quickly wiped my mouth and set my plate down fumbling to introduce myself. I would never flirt with a girl other than Mal but at a party like this not introducing yourself could start a blood fued or something. I shoved my hand out towards her, and stuttered "Harry Dresden, nice to meet you miss?" She giggled, which was adorable and stuck out a smooth pale hand which I couldn't help but follow with my eyes back to her amazing body in a skintight black dress, though I forced my eyes back to her face pretty quickly.

Another musical giggle "Nice to meet you Harry, my name is Diana, Diana Prince. I apologize if I've embarrassed you, you just don't see many people our age at parties like these, especially not handsome boys eating the whole buffet by themselves." I flushed a bit at the handsome comment (again can I plead not dead?) and smiled back at her wryly "Well I'm glad I was able to shake up your evening but I'm not alone."

I gestured behind me to where Mal was making her way over, dragging a wincing Taylor and glaring at Diana with a really worrying poison green glow in her eyes. Diana noticed her come over and laughed "Well my mistake, a truly worthy companion." She took Mals hand and leaned down to kiss the back of her knuckles while looking her square in the eye "I hope I didn't offend such a lovely lady, my name is Diana, and I was just expressing my boredom to your companion. Perhaps youde care for a dance to help relieve it?"

I was flabbergasted, incredibly turned on, and a bit worried all at once. I didn't know what Mals world thought about bisexuality or if Mal would be offended or confused or…blushing prettily. She glanced at me questioningly seemingly having forgotten her anger at Diana in the wake of the surprise (which I suspect was at least part of the point) it took me a second to give a stunned nod and watch the gorgeous brunette drag my mate off to the dance floor. As they settled in to dance I noticed her hands slide down Mals back and rest on her ass. I didn't complain.

Mal POV

I knew Diana had asked me to dance at least partly to distract me from my jealousy, however I was also a Dragon and could smell the genuine arousal she felt. Harrys sense of smell was about as good as mine but he didn't have my practice picking out scents and their meanings.

I wasn't offput, same sex relationships hadn't been exactly commonplace on the isle but they happened, surprisingly villains are some of the least judgemental people in the world, as long as you were down to burn down an orphanage from time to time they really didn't care what sex your partner was.

Harry seemed pretty ok with this, I got the impression from his shock and the arousal I smelled from him that seeing me in a potentially sexual situation with another girl was something that interested him. I decided to take the dance, if not just to get her away from Harry, and besides she was absolutely stunning. The dancing wasn't awkward at all, which was surprising because she Diana was about six feet tall, but she made up for the height difference with grace.

She smiled down at me, hands firmly squeezing my ass, which was definitely not unpleasant. I didn't feel bad about it since Harry apparently didn't mind, if the way he was staring intently was any indication. "So" she said in a high melodic voice "I'm afraid I never got your name miss?" I smiled charmingly and, partly to tease Harry and partly because I wanted to see what she was working with I slide my own hands down to cup HER ass.

Her eyes didn't widen like I expected but hooded instead, I looked her in the eye while I responded "My name is Mal, I'm Harrys girlfriend." I punctuated this with a smirk and a squeeze of her absolutely rock hard ass. She pulled me a little closer to dance pressed against her. "But that's not all you are" she whispered in my ear "I should introduce myself properly, I am Diana, daughter of Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons and Ruler of Themyscara. And I can always tell when I'm in the presence of royalty, beautiful princess."

I admit I shivered a bit when she whispered in my ear. She was beautiful, I'd never had a boyfriend and I was a virgin but I'd kissed other girls before when I was younger and it was something I'd enjoyed. "My name is Maleficent, daughter of Maleficent, the dark fairy, Queen of the Isle of the Lost. Lady of the shadowed places and last of the trueborn Dragons, and it's a pleasure to meet you princess." I had no idea why I told her all of that, I really did feel a connection to her, maybe it was the royalty or maybe something else but I felt like this exchange needed to happen.

I expected her to be unsettled or at least wary, but listing my mothers titles made her go from slightly aroused to literally wet for me in about half a second. I felt my heart start to race. I knew that Harry was watching, that he wouldn't care what happened, hell that he would enjoy it if I kissed her, and while I didn't trust the arousal at my explanation I did react to it. This girl was very interested in something I said, wether it was the power or the royal blood I didn't know.

I leaned up to whisper in her ear as she had in mine "What part of that excites you so?" I nipped lightly at her ear lobe, wanting to take the initiative a bit in the little one on one, and had to grip her ass harder to help support her weight as her knees buckled. She sucked in a breath and I swear she almost moaned "I… I'm a virgin."

I must have looked as confused as I felt because she gave a breathy laugh "Themyscaran tradition states royal chastity can only be taken by those of royal blood. I don't get to go on these little outings from the island much and youre the first royal I've met who fires my blood."

I chuckled wickedly "That's not all I fire, I can smell it." She actually blushed, apparently the vamp seductress thing was a total farce. I think she was actually kind of shy. "So if you can only lose your virginity to someone of royal blood why were you flirting with my mate?" The blush darkened. This is only the third time I've left the island, he is the first boy my age I've met. I knew nothing would come of it but I found his admiration… pleasing."

I should have been jealous but after asserting my dominance over her a minute ago with that little love bite my instincts weren't quite so territorial. I smiled at her gently "He is very handsome, no offense is taken." I paused for a second to think of how to respond to what she was saying "so you want to have sex with me?" Her pale porcelain face was almost cherry red by this point "I would find it…desirable, I've had such urges before but my circumstances mean I haven't been able to act on them."

I understood that a bit, though my own celibacy had been my choice. "The thing is I'm in a relationship. Harry is my mate." Diana looked unhappy "I can not allow you to share me, due to our customs, but he is very handsome, perhaps after you have me you would enjoy watching him take me?" My eyes widened at that. I think I actually would've enjoyed that immensely, and would put in a pin in it till later but I definitely didn't want my first time with Harry to be sharing a much prettier girl.

I shook my head. "I'm very flattered, Diana, truly, but I am also a virgin, and I want my first time to be with Harry. Alone." Diana seemed dejected and I felt terrible, with her restrictions she probably didn't put herself out there often and the first time she did she gets rejected? "How about you and I stay in contact, im sure we'll see each other again, and if we've been talking for a while up till then and Harry and I have discussed it maybe it can happen in the future." I grinned happily at her "Besides, you can never have too many friends."

Harry POV

Taylor sat next to me massaging his wrist as I stared at my girlfriend grinding on the second prettiest girl I'd ever seen. If I didn't think opening my sight in a place like this would've been the most horrifyingly bad decision I'd ever made I'd have done it just to keep that image in my head forever. Beside me Taylor whistled appreciatively.

I turned and scowled at him and he gave me a charming grin and shrugged "What? Glare if you want mate, that's a damn pleasant picture." I just snorted at him "Fair enough. So…whats the deal with you and that Walker guy." Taylor froze, his face going blank "Not your concern mate." I scowled "The hell it isn't, I went to bat for you back there." His blank face slipped into a scowl to echo mine "I didn't ask you to do that." We sat in stony silence for about five minutes before he caved.

"Alright fine, back in the day he was mates with my dad, thick as thieves. They had some kind of fight over my mum before she died when I was a baby and Walker and dad parted company. My dad kept me away from him after that but when dad died Walker started coming around more. At first it was to protect me, he'd help me out of a jam here or there. But as I got older I discovered my gift, started developing a bit of a reputation. Didn't seem to bother him much until I fell in with John and his crew, that's when the attention turned hostile."

I furrowed my brow "Wait, gift?" Taylor sighed and nodded "Yeah my third eye. I have a talent, I was born with it, I can find anything, no matter where it is or how well hidden. I mentioned doing work as a P.I? I used my gift for that." My eyes were wide, that was a major talent, I hadn't heard of a practitioner with natural skills that specific, but if it was as absolute as Taylor seemed to think it was a huge deal. People would kill over power like that.

He noticed the look on my face and nodded "Hence needing to develop a rep. Its also part of the reason I fell in with John. He may not look it but he's…sort of blessed. Thing tend to go his way, he gets out of jams, wins at cards, always ends up in the right place at the right time. Keeps the serious threats from finding me and makes it look easy when I deal with the minor ones." He shook his head sadly "I just don't know why Walker seemed so threatened by it. I mean sure John summons demons but hell, so do half the people in my neighborhood."

I felt for him. His mom dying as a baby, his dad dying a bit later, being alone and taken in by an older father figure who turned on him, I felt a lot of parallels between me and Taylor. "Well if you need anything man, you know you only need to call." Taylor nodded to me "Appreciate that mate, same here." We smiled at each other then, brothers in arms, because Taylor knew my story too, from our time in Arcadia, and we recognized the kinship in each other, and with it a willingness to do anything for a friend.

Mal POV

 **Lemon warning: I had a request for another one and it fit here so I figured I'd throw it in. Once again feel free to skip it.**

Once we got past the whole please fuck me thing Diana was actually really good company. We talked for about a half hour. We flirted a bit more, and I got so into it I agreed to eat her out later tonight if Harry could watch and didn't mind. Apparently oral wasn't considered sex really but still counted as a no go in her culture. I wasn't willing to lose my virginity to her but she was still insanely sexy and feeling her grind against me was driving me crazy. So I dragged her back over to Harry.

He was standing with Taylor chatting comfortably when I frog marched Diana up to him "Harry, Diana wants me to eat her pussy, but I'll only do it if you're okay with it and you watch." His mouth was hanging completely open "I…I mean…if its ok with you…I'd….is this some kind of trap? Like are you testing me because if so its totally not fair." I giggled at his polaxed expression.

"No silly its not a trap, Diana is interested in me sexually I said you had to be involved, do you want to be?" I thought his neck was going to snap from nodding so fast, and he grabbed Diana's hand and mine and dragged us into the back of the ballroom and out a door into a darkened corridor. The tables were all covered with table cloths and the place felt unused, but the golden light of the ballroom played through the shadows through the not quite closed door giving our Dragon eyes plenty to see with.

Diana was leaning against a table nearly panting with excitement and I saw Harry standing off to the side staring at her. I probably should've been jealous but the way her breasts were heaving under that tight black dress I was staring too. Harry glanced at me and back to her "Youre both ok that im here for this right?" If im making you uncomfortable I can-" He didn't have time to finish because Diana slipped the straps of her dress off and let it pool at her feet.

We both stopped breathing. Diana was…a goddess. It was the only term I could think of, her pale breasts were large but very firm, her stomach was toned and the patch of hair above her almost supernaturally beautiful pussy was trimmed neatly into a triangle of hair so dark it was almost blue. I was just transfixed, and Harry wasn't much better. Diana was staring at me but glanced at him "You may not touch between my legs but if you wish to touch me elsewhere while Mal enjoys me I'd like that very much."

At this point I was just as soaking wet as she was, and I could see Harry was hard through his pants. He walked over to her, waiting for my nod of approval before pulling her against him his hard on pressing against her ass. His hands slid up t massage her breasts, toying with her nipples and I walked up to Diana and dropped to my knees. I swung her legs over my shoulders and leaned forward to lick that beautiful pussy.

I'd never tasted another girl before, hell I'd never even tasted myself, but I didn't mind the taste at all. Diana tasted sort of sweet, and I definitely wanted more. I gave her a few more licks feeling her moan, and looked up to see her kissing Harry, and I playfully flicked her clit with my tongue and watched her gasp into my mates mouth. She fisted on hand in Harrys hair as they kissed and the other in mine as I transformed my tongue and ran the slightly rougher surface of it over her clit before hooking it and flicking her g-spot like Harry had done to me.

Diana came like fire hydrant, and I licked up every drop as Harry played with her nipples and kissed away the moans. He set Diana down, and she swayed on her feet. He steadied her and I stood and gave her a hungry kiss, she moaned into my mouth. I leaned in to whisper into her ear "Next time, we can finish it, and then if you want Harry can have a turn."

 **Ok guys a few things to address, no this isn't going to be a harem fic…probably. Diana, because I know people are going to be annoyed at the portrayal, here are my reasons. One this is a teenage Diana, so hormones will be a factor, Mal is gorgeous and Diana comes from an island of only women so lesbianism is probably not only accepted but pretty much standard. Second I find the virgin Diana and sexless Diana portrayals you often see completely ridiculous. Themyscara is a culture based on ancient Greece, saying the ancient Greeks were comfortable with sex is like saying water is wet. With no men around on the island I'd figure there would be even less taboos because women would understand each others needs better. I didn't plan this part it just happened but honestly I don't regret it it will work well later on. There wont be any other three ways or anything until after Mal and Harry finally have sex if anyone is worried this one just happened. Review please guys it helps the writing, thanks and later all.**


	10. Bark at the Moon

Harry POV

We got back to the party, rumpled and, in my case more than a little turned on. Diana looked absolutely blissful and was clinging to Mal and I both. We slipped back into the room just in time to see John being dragged over by a bouncing Amelia, lipstick smudging his mouth and a glazed, dreamy look on his face. Taylor saw them heading over and slipped over to meet us, I felt bad about leaving him alone but apparently my distraction hadnt harmed him in any way so I could live with it.

Amelia dragged John up and dropped his hand "Great news! I've picked up a substantial scent of gunpowder from a large contingent of the staff, I think theyre planning to-" She was unable to finish due to the automatic gunfire cracking the air. I expected screaming and panic, but apparently they don't invite just anyone to these shindigs. I saw plenty of cold looks but no fear. The group of gunmen dressed as waiters stepped up to fix their guns on Walker.

Taylor rolled his eyes. Apparently guns were about as threatening to Walker as a strongly worded letter because the well dressed man simply glanced over from his conversation, raised an eyebrow and returned to his discussion. Thug number one cleared his throat "Hey nancy boy, you'de best be keeping your attention on me and me boys, unless youre anxious to get new mouth in the back of your head."

Walker looked irritated and turned to the men "Its terribly rude to interrupt. Be a good lad and **KILL YOURSELF** **AND THEN YOUR FRIENDS** " Now I'd known Walker was strong, he had to be for the kind of fear and respect he commanded, but the Voice that echoes out of his mouth when he said that last part was so powerful it was almost a physical blow. Taylor flinched, John winced, Mal gasped and Diana stepped back. Amelia just raised an eyebrow and gave a concillitory nod, apparently she'd seen better.

I was expecting the man to do it, though I suspected Walked made a mistake with the order, yourself and then your friends? That didn't seem right. But the six men in matching waiters uniforms just grinned nastily. "Oh we know all about you, about your little tricks. You think we'de come here without protections? Without powerful allies just like yours? You probably don't even remember us, don't remember killing our brother over a little public dispute as a warning to others not to cross you. Well now we're gonna use you as a warning, now everyone will know not to cross the Blitzkrieg Boys."

Walkers attention was on the men now "That's very sad for you, if you'de killed yourself and then your friends as I instructed it would have been fast, and mostly painless." I glanced at Taylor and hissed "Why does he keep saying that? Doesn't he mean his friends and then himself?" Taylor shook his head, visage grim "Walkers Voice is a mark of his station as the will of the Authorities, it works on anyone, alive or dead. That man shouldve shot himself and then killed his friends before the command wouldve allowed him to die. Being able to resist means he has some pretty heavy protections on him, which could be very bad for us."

Amelia shook her head "It's a bigger problem than you think, I can see the spells theyre using for protection, theyre designed to circumvent the voie and force a physical confrontation, but theres a suicide switch, whoever made them wanted Walker to engage physically and once he does those men will blow. With the power feeding those spells this whole block will be vaporised." I winced at that "So theyre free to just shoot us up and we cant do anything about it?" Taylor smirked nastily "Well I cant see how they would. They don't have any bullets!" He raised his voice at the end to a shout so the Blitzkrieg Boys could hear him and they turned to face us.

The Blitzkrieg Boys smirked and the leader levelled his rifle at us "Oh is that so?" Taylors smirk turned into a full fledged nasty grin "Well I'd say so, theyre all right here" an he he opened his palms facing the floor to let a stream of rather large bullets tumble to the ground. The leader sneered and pulled the trigger only to hear…nothing. The gun clicked empty. All of the guns clicked empty.

I glanced at Taylor who flashed that vicious grin at us "I know a few tricks." We all turned to look at the Blitzkrieg Boys with menace, and were more than a touch surprised at the looks of smugness on their face. "Yeah" mocked the leader "so do we" I started getting a bad feeling when that last syllable dropped into a growl, and that feeling only grew along with their now hulking hair covered forms. The leader knashed his jaws at us and I winced. Dragon or not those things were big and those teeth were sharp.

We all turned to glare over at Amelia who looked offended "What? How the hell was I supposed to know they were werewolves?" Mal scoffed from behind her "Well I knew they were off, I could smell it, if I knew what werewolves were I'd have known. You're slipping teach. Shouldn't be a problem anyway right?" Amelia shook her head " are Loup Garou, theyre damn near magic proof and strong enough to bite through steel. There shouldn't even be one here, nevermind six, and its not even a full moon. Whoever sent them is completely set on someone in this room dying, and stupidly powerful to boot."

I groaned "So what youre saying is that we have several thousand pounds of rage fuelled killing machine we can neither physically attack nor magically harm and they want to tear us all apart?" Amelia winced "You have a talent for nutshellng complex issues…but yeah basically. I think I can cancel the detonation sequence in the spellwork, but I wont be able to fight them with you while im casting, whoever sent them is strong and not a little skilled, six simultanous cast cancellations will take up all my attention even if I can do it."

She glanced over at Walker "I assume you can take one? That leaves one apiece for the rest of them." Walker snorted "I could take all six, but guests should pull their own weight. One is acceptable." He turned to the slavering beasts bearing down on us "Now which one of you unlucky bastards wants to be my dance partner?"

Mal POV

The five minutes after Walker made his declaration were hectic and terrible. I lost track of Harry and the others in the confusion, before I even knew what was going on it was just Diana and I standing on our own facing two snarling mosters bearing down on us. I took a second to break down the situation. We were standing here about to be dogfood for the worlds least pleasant dogs. I had the brief but hilarious thought that if Carlos were here he'de be having a nervous breakdown, this was basically his nightmare.

Diana stepped up next to me "I can pull one off to fight if you think you can handle the other." I grinned at her "You don't need to worry about me Di, these guys are on the low end of the food chain, time to show them who the top dog is." Diana nodded then with a war cry hurled herself into one of the wolves carrying them both sliding across the floor.

I turned to face the remaining wolf, just in time for it dive right at my face. Faster than I could think I shoved my arm into its mouth and back, I thought my Dragon-hide would stop its teeth from sinking in and shoving to the back would prevent the bite from getting too much leverage. I had to stifle a scream as the teeth tore into my flesh. The wolf lifted me into the air by my trapped arm and tried to shake me like a doll, but as soon as I figure out its move I jerked against my arm and swung my legs up to wrap around its throat.

I started to squeeze with my legs, trying to get the wolf to release me, but the tighter I choked it the deeper it bit. I realized I was screaming now, waves of pain rocking through my body and cresting out my throat like a tsunami of sound. My arm felt like it was about to come out at the socket, I had never had to learn to fight before, my Dragon strength and toughness taking care of any problems, but this thing was strong, it was fast and horrible, and it was going to kill me.

My throat was starting to constrict, I could feel myself panic as my strength started to wane with the draining of my blood. I needed to do something or I was going to die here! I couldn't figure out how to get the damn thing off me, and then I had a possibly suicidal thought. I leaned my head up and wedged my head (probably stupidly) into the jaws propped open by my mangled arm before opening my mouth and spewing fire right down the damn things throat. It collapsed burning on top of me, finally dead.

Diana stood behind it, and past her I could see the headless body of her wolf, her right arm hung limply in a mirror of my own and she was covered in scratches. Diana looked like she'd gone ten rounds with a herd of rampaging wildebeast. She levered it off me with some difficulty (maybe she was right handed) and I threw my good arm around her in a hug. "Diana thank god, I thought I was dead!"

She smiled tiredly at me "I had a similar thought more than once, these beasts were quite formidable) She hugged me back and we turned to see how the others were doing or if they needed help. They didn't. Harry, possessed of the strength of a Dragon as I was, only in a much bigger body and with much more experience fighting had attacked the weak joint on his wolfs legs and taken it to ground, where he was currently stomping what was left of its head and torso into a fine paste. His eyes blazed cerulean blue as he crushed his foe, and his teeth were pulled back into a deaths head grin.

Walkers wolf was stone cold dead, with a gaping wound in its chest where he'd simply reached in and pulled out its heart. I couldn't surpress my shudder. John was sitting on the corpse of his, smoking a ciggarette, there were silver roses twining in and out of its nose mouth and ears and erupting from parts of its flesh, as if it had swallowed a seed that had gone insane. Taylors wolf wasn't dead yet, but it also wasn't moving. He was staring it dead in the eye and it was frozen in place, and in less than a minute it started to shake and foam at the mouth. The werewolf collased dead to the ground, eyes streaming blood. Amelia let out a loud breath of relief and we all echoed it (except Walker, the prick), the fight was finally over.

Harry POV

I kept stomping on the damn thing but it wouldn't stop moving! I shouldve figured werewolves wouldn't be that easy, when I saw Mal finish hers I took a page out of her book and coughed up a huge jet of flame at mine, with all the damage it cauterized I figured if the wolf was alive he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. I slumped to the ground against the wall and took stock of our people. Walker was rubbing at a bloodstain on his shirt under the cuff of his suit with disgusted annoyance, John was enjoying his ciggarette, and Taylor had just shucked one out of a pack and had borrowed Johns sigil engraved zippo to light up his own.

I hurried over to Mal and Diana, the only ones wounded (presumably because the rest of us used magic and cheap tricks, though I got the feeling from her expression Diana was pleased with the fight, I had the impression she didn't get hurt in battle much, so maybe it was a novelty) Mal looked much less enthralled, she was cradling her wounded arm against herself and exhaling sharply in pain. I whirled on Walker "What the hell kind of security did you have on this place!? My mate's arm is barely attached and my friends were nearly eaten!"

Walker looked back at me pleasantly "They were here for me in the first place, so I take full responsibility for any harm done. I can assure you all steps will be taken to look into the problem." I snarled at his polite non-answer "Not good enough, I want John Taylor to investigate!" Walker looked surprised…so did Taylor "Taylor is a friend and an experienced detective, and in case youre getting any funny ideas about sweeping this under the rug I'm granting him our protection. If anything happens to John Taylor over the course of this investigation both Ferrovax and myself will be….displeased." And with that final note, I stormed out of the ballroom, leaving my friends to follow behind.

 **Hey guys its King, sorry about the few days between on this one. This chapter was really tough for me I ran into a bit of a writers block problem, the next few arcs im suer excited about and they should come easier so be expecting the next chapter soon, more reviews would help immensely they always inspire me to write, the new players were going to see and the places the story will be going are all things that really interest me and things I want to share, I've got some great characters to introduce from stories that I really love so stay tuned and keep me posted on what you think. Im not thrilled with how this one came out but hopefully getting through it will enable me to move on to bigger and better chapters.**


	11. Fairies Wear Boots

Harry POV

Taylor saw us off at the entrance "You lot be careful, understand? Walker is a heavy hitter but the timing on this attack is a bit too convenient for my liking, luckily Princess Di over there is heading back to her island paradise and Johns going with you lot so I wont have anything to worry about" I frowned at him "except yourself. Ferros protection will help but it just means whoever kills you has to be eather sneaky enough to make it look like an accident to Ferro or stupid enough to think they can. The world has no shortage of sneaky and stupid."

Taylor grinned at me and leaned forward to wrap me in a backslapping hug "Cheers mate, Ill keep my eyes open, and you lot do the same." He turned to John who had his arm around Amelia (it was like cuddling a nest of pit vipers) "I assume you are going with them? You always did get stupid when it came to a girl." John grinned unrepentantly back "Not that fast I don't, but Amelia is older than she looks and in exchange for playing her house boy" he leered at Amelia when he said that part "Shes offered to teach me all sorts of special new tricks."

Taylor snorted and wrapped his oldest friend in a hug similar to the one he gave me, but with suspicious amounts of eye wiping and throat clearing "Watch yourself out there mate, you're gonna be hard pressed to survive without me watching your back." John chuckled wetly "Right, your sorry arse would be dead ten times over if not for me, youre the one needs to be careful. Don't go getting yourself into trouble I wont be here to get you out of."

After John and Taylors goodbye Mal turned to Diana, the two girls had been through a lot together in a short period of time, having someone give you your first orgasm and then stand at your back in battle will cement a friendship pretty quickly, not to mention al the talking on the dance floor. The two girls hugged with promises to write each other (apparently amazons used messenger hawks which was awesome) and we piled into the car to head back to the circus.

"So" I asked Amelia "You think Ferro is gonna be upset I threw his name around like that?" Amelia shrugged "Could go either way honestly, he doesn't love being misquoted but he also cares very little for the reactions of others. It doesn't really put him out much but it sets a bad precedent. He might summon you for a conversation or he might let it lay, I'm briefing him on the nights events when we get back, I'll need you to show John to my tent though."

John leered from the back seat but I just snorted "How the hell am I supposed to do that? I have no clue which tent is yours." Amelia rolled her eyes and glanced back at Mal "You sure you want him as a mate? Hes cute enough but he isnt the sharpest crayon in the box is he?" Mal giggled and put her hand on my shoulder from behind me "Honey we really need to teach you how to use your nose, I'll take us to Amelias tent." Amelia looked up sharply "But make sure no matter what that you're back in your tents by three a.m, we shift tonight and if youre not inside a structure you'll get left behind."

All three of us stared at her "Wait you mean the whole circus will just shift without us? Why not just take everything in the campground?" Amelia rolled her eyes "Because anyone can wander in at any time, the tents are warded up the ass, as well as being integrated into the spell circuit for the transfer. Two birds with one stone." She gave us all a wave and John a peck on the cheek and headed for Ferros tent.

After taking John to Amelias tent (which he was somehow already able to enter but we werent) we headed back to ours for bed. Mal and I were exhausted and passed out right away, curled up in each others arms.

Mal POV

I woke up the next morning still sore from the fight, my arm had mostly healed (Dragon physiology has its perks) and hopped up to wake Harry "Baby get up! We shifted again, I wanna see where we ended up!" Harry groggily sat up and gave me a peck before mumbling somehting unintelligible and shuffling over to the stove to put on a pot of coffee. Because of Harrys power we couldn't hve electronics, which didn't bother me overly much since I didn't actually know what that meant.

Harry put the pot on and went to take a shower, coming back and getting the coffee off the stove without making a single expression. A morning person, my man is not. I took a quick shower while he drank and by the time I got out to the tent in my robe Harry looked like himself if not slightly muzzy. He smiled at me sweetly "I forget how little of the world you've seen, I love how much joy you take in things like this. You look like a kid on christmas morning." I wasn't sure who Chris was or why he was mossy but it didn't matter.

"Harry come on! Lets go!" I grabbed him by the arm and pulled him outside. Our tent was on the edge of the grounds so out behind it I was able to look out and see…a huge body of water. It reminded me slightly of the island, and I was almost dissapointed…until the fog cleared. There arching out over the water was a massive red bridge. The bridge was bigger than anything I'd ever seen, seemingly held up by giant metal ropes. Harry came up behind me and threw his arm over my shoulder "Got to admit, it is pretty amazing, especially with the fog and the morning sun highlighting it like this. That, my love, is the Golden Gate Bridge, and no I have no idea why its called that."

I glanced at Harry with wonder "You've been here before? What city are we in? Is this where you used to live?" Harry chuckled and shook his head "We're in San Francisco, and no I've never been. The Golden Gate is famous, I've seen pictures. " I marveled at that "It's famous enough to have pictures that wide spread?" Harry understood the source of my awe "There are sometimes pictures in books, but books here arent like you might be used to, instead of one copy they print thousands if not millions of the same book, then bring it all over the country. They do this with millions of different books so theres a network of widespread information anyone can access."

He seemed very enthusiatic about it "Some books are more popular than others, so theyre easier to get, less popular ones have been read by less people. Some books are used as a standard tool in schools so the information that people learn can be similar, and some books are used as a frame of reference for language itself, like the dictionary, which is a list of all the words in the english language and their meanings. I personally prefer books about amazing stories and adventures, they call them fantasy here, I'd love to lend you some of my favorites!"

The childlike glee on his face melted my heart and I pulled him in for a kiss. What made me the happiest was the fact that through his whole explanation he was sensetive about what he said. He took care not to be condescending or assume he knew what the isle had and didn't, he genuinely wanted to share his knowledge with me and didn't think any less of me for not having it.

I pulled away and smiled at him "So we're up early anyway lets go out exploring. We can check in with Amelia to see if theres anything big today." We headed over to Amelias tent to check in with her and hopefully pick up John. We managed to extract a rumpled and unhappy John along with the grunted information that we didn't have anything today and to go away.

We wandered the city for hours, walking around enjoying the sights. We took in the trolleys (which Harry said we couldn't ride because of all the machinery) and the parks and houses. We went to the bridge to look around before deciding that bridges were boring. Finally we decided to stop for lunch. Harry mentioned one of the people on the bridge who told him about a place called the Japanese tea gardens that were supposed to be beautiful so we headed for those.

We sat down in the tea gardens on the grass and enjoyed some sandwiches we picked up from a gas station to plot our next move. John spoke up first "I don't know about you lot but im bloody dead on my feet. We should rest here a while, maybe catch a nap." Harry started laughing "Well clearly we know someone who needs more exercise." John just leered back "Not me mate, I had plenty of exercise last night, Amelia gave me a right proper workout."

I winced at that "That's gross John! Amelia is like a big sister to us, she teaches us magic and it helps if we can look her in the eye while she does. Well, metaphorically speaking, we don't need to hear about her sex life, or yours for that matter." I looked over for Harrys agreement to see his eyes a little glazed and smacked him on the back of the head. "Harry! You better not be fantasizing about sex with Amelia!"

He grinned sheepishly and blushed "Does it help my case at all that I was fantasizing about YOU with Amelia?" I blinked at that, then my eyes glazed a little too. John started laughing "What happened to 'Like a big sister' and 'don't need to think about her sex life'" I blushed brightly "Shut up John, no one asked you."

We sat like that for a while until we noticed something strange, a girl about our age, cute with brown hair and a pretty angular face. She was stalking around muttering to herself and looked completely enraged. I stood up and headed over "Excuse me miss?" She turned to glance at me and looked surprised "Wait, are you talking to me?" I raised an eyebrow "Well who else would I be talking to?" She blinked at me in shock for a minute and then responded "Well I mean, technically nobody since you shouldn't even be able to see me."

By this point Harry and John had wandered over, and John was staring a bit. Harry seemed mostly immune to her beauty (which I was glad about, I was still really confused where we stood with other girls after the Diana debacle) but she definitely noticed John noticing and tucked some hair behind her ear. "Sorry you guys can clear pierce my glamour so you must be fae of some kind, my name is Toby, Toby Daye, ward of Sylvester Torquil, duke of shadowed hills." I swear she tried to actually curtsy before noticing her lack of a dress and blushing.

John took a step forward and leaned down to kiss the back of her hand "Charmed luv, the names John Constantine, and my companions are Harry Dresden and Mal…." He trailed of and glanced questioningly at me, I just shrugged. We didn't have last named on the isle, they didn't even have them in aurodon. John shrugged back and continued with barely a pause "We're in town with the circus esoterica and wanted to see all the beautiful sights your fair city had to offer, so fortuitous to run into you here, it wouldve been a shame to miss the most enchanting sight of all."

Harry rolled his eyes at Johns shameless flirting, I thought it was sweet but Harry had explained to me that some things didn't fit normal speech patterns and made the speaker seem strange, he also explained that because of his accent John got away with saying more outlandish things because they sounded better and americans didn't know any better and didn't want to assume and look like idiots. I smiled at my mates exasperation, this was going to be a fun day.

 **Im having a harder and harder time with this one guys, im working through my writers block but its slow, in all seriousness I could really use some reviews to get myself going again, the more the better. In the meantime thank you again to my consistent reviewers and I hope to hear more from you. Thanks all and let me know what you think!**


	12. Dark Side of the Moon

Mal POV

Our afternoon with Toby was amazing. She knew the streets of San Francisco like the back of her hand, we went all over, ten different chinese food places, a couple underground art shows, and even a really cool magic club. I was having a lot of fun talking to Toby, Diana was the first real female friend I've ever had aside from Evie, and Toby was even easier to talk to since I wasn't all tongue tied. We talked about what it was like having a powerful mother and a mortal father, apparently Toby's mom had a reputation even among the faeries in this world.

The more I got to know her the better I liked her. Harry seemed to get along with her well too, both of them chatting about cartoons and books and even cars. Apparently Toby had a lot of interest in most of the books Harry read. John seemed to be a bit thunderstruck, and Toby was blushing a bit when he did talk to her as well. I pulled him aside and asked what he was doing flirting with her when he was with Amelia, he just snorted "Amelia and I arent dating luv, I'm her pet. We hd sex and it was fun but it wasn't the start of a relationship. At least not one like that. To be in a relationship she'd have to see me as an equal. Which is impossible."

I frowned at that thought. John was a good friend and a powerful ally, we hadnt known each other long but we'de been through a lot and I was impressed with what he'd done. If Amelia looked down on him how did she feel about Harry and I? I sheek the thought away and turned back to my friend. "Well good luck then, now why don't we catch up to them?" We had to run a bit to catch them, Toby walked fast and harry had really long legs, they turned the corner in front of us and we both sprinted to catch up. We turned the corner hearts racing and grinning only to stop dead in our tracks. Harry and Toby were…gone. Where was my mate?

Harry POV

I woke up to biting cold. Toby was sitting above me looking terrified and shaking me "Harry you need to get up. This is really bad." I groaned a bit, my head was killing me and my mouth tasted of pennies and what might have been frost. I glared at Toby "Since you clearly know what the hell is going on mind sharing with the class?" The only light nearby was a dim blue glow from my mothers amulet, apparently I was somehow channeling magic to it without meaning to.

Toby winced at the accusatory tone in my voice, but somehow separated from Mal and John and stuck in the frzen darkness I didn't much care. She pushed her hair back over her ear (which was pointed now, oddly enough) "Well. Yes. I know where we are but not how or why we got here. We're on the shadow roads, one of the roads of the fae. But I didn't bring us here! I couldn't have if I wanted to! I don't have access to the shadow roads, theyre Caith Sidhe territory."

My frown softened a bit. She sounded scared and hurt, women had always been a weakness of mine and I didn't have it in me to be mean to the girl. She didn't know whay was going on or if she did was good enough at pretending not to that scary mean face wasn't going to accoplish anything. I put my hand on her shoulder "I'm sorry Toby, I believe you, now I need you to calm down and tell me everything you know about this place and how to get out."

Toby closed her eyes and took a calming breath "Right, well the shadow roads are the Caith Sidhes main method of travel. Theyre dangerous and freezing and to be blunt, we should both be very dead right now. I'm not complaining but I have no idea why we arent frozen to death." I blinked at that and glanced down at our linked hands. Now that I was focusing I could feel magic leaking from me into Toby. She glanced down at exatly the same time and blinked up at me. "Are you-?" I cut her off "No! Well, maybe. Yes, I think I am. Shut up." We got to our feet and Toby started to snicker "Don't be embarrassed just because it was an accident." Her face sobered "Youre the only reason we're alive. My next big question though is how the hell we got here."

I felt the blood drain from my face "I might have an idea. When we were in london there was an attack. They claimed it was aimed at our host but another one stretches the boundaries of coincidence. If I can keep us warm can you get us out?" I saw Toby chew her lip with worry "No. I don't have access to any roads, and even if I did we cant open a road into the middle of another without the possibility of punching a hole through to fairie and theres no telling where we might land or what might be waiting."

I cursed and yanked on her hand, dragging her after me as I tried to orient us in the pitch blackness. "Ok we have no idea where we are or where to go but I do know one thing, wherever we are right now is a shit box, so we should be somewhere else. If were going to freeze or starve we can at least do it trying to find a way out instead of sitting placidly in the dark. Besides-" I glanced around worriedly, the blue glow didn't stretch far before slamming into a solid wall of darkness, on the edges of the pool of light I could just barely hear things shifting, moving around just outside our vision, waiting for my strength to fail, and the light to go out.

Toby saw me glance out into the dark and yanked my face down to stare at her, I was very careful not to look her in the eye while she carefully enunciated a stern warning "Do not look into the dark, you hear nothing, nothing is there, we're all alone. Say it." I repeated her words and she nodded in approval "Good now believe it, faerie and to an extent the roads that run through it are places of belief and emotion, letting either spin out of control can be hazardous to your health."

I closed my eyes an took a deep breath before starting to walk, as we walked through the pitch black holding hands we talked about all sorts of things, Tobys mother and her childhood, first in faerie then in shadowed hills where she was being raised by an old friend of her mothers named Sylvester, who was a duke. I told her about mine, living with my dad until he died and then my years with Justin and Elaine, finally I told her about Mal, and it was so nice to finally talk about it for myself.

Id had some long and wonderful talks with John and Taylor in the Arcadia project but Mal was there, this was the first time I'd been able to confide everything in someone, and somehow over what seemed like hours of talking I had grown to trust Toby. She listened and asked questions when she had them and somehow I felt like a weight had been lifted off my chest. I loved Mal more than words could express but I hadnt realized how much I needed a friend that was just mine, at least for a while.

Toby told me about her Conner, a selkie she was in love with, apparently he'd been engaged to the dukes daughter after theyde been together a while and she was crushed. I put an arm over her shoulder and held my new friend as she cried over the loss of something beautiful, yet another thing that faerie had taken from her. After what couldve been days or couldve been minutes we spotted a light off in the distance, Toby seemed confused "Ok I don't know what that is but it shouldn't be here, the Shadow Roads arent supposed to have any light on them at all, its sort of the point, my vote is….and I cant believe im saying this, to follow the light at the end of the tunnel."

I squeezed her hand harder and we walked quickly towards the light and before we knew it we were standing on a huge grassy hill. Toby gasped and let go as the change in temperature slemmed into us. Without the cold to keep off the heat I was outputting got incredibly uncomfortable, Toby was able to just let go but unfortunately I had to do things the hard way. I inhaled calmly and supressed the power radiating through me before I passed out from heatstroke, but my clothes were soaked with sweat already.

Tobys shirt was damp too, and I noticed with darkening cheeks that she'd eschewed a bra on this little jaunt. She saw me staring and covered her chest blushing "Geez Harry! Don't be a perv! What would Mal say?" I grinned sheepishly "She'de be staring even harder, as a princess she has way less shame than most." Toby just glared at me "Ok,ok im sorry I didn't mean to perv." I slipped off my sweat soaked jacket and draped it over her shoulders and she blushed a little.

I pretended not to notice but this was getting ridiculous, I had to remember to ask Mal if Dragons produce pheromones because it would explain a lot. We glanced around our new surroundings and realized that without the heat magic I'd conjured accidently it wasn't really that hot once we got used to it. A bit balmy but only about eighty degrees. Further up the hill we noticed what appeared to be a crudely hewn table. A monstrosity of a thing with two women sitting on it. One of them was dressed in green silk, her gown was cut low in the front to show off huge and incredibly perky breasts, and waves of scarlet hair tumbled down over her shoulders.

Next to the redhead (who sat pouting sulkily and swinging her legs as they dangled freely off the table, like she was a child) perched one of the most gorgeous women id ever seen. Platinum blonde with lips the color of frozen berries, she perfectly filled out her ice blue silk dress. As we approached the redhead noticed us and perked up while the blonde seemed to have known we were here all along and merely took note.

The redhead bounced to her feet grinning (and damn did she ever bounce) and flashed the other woman a dazzling smile before turning it to me "My queen you brought my godson to see us!" She was practically gushing, and the term godson knocked me for a loop, those emerald green cats eyes flicked to Toby "And little Amys daughter! Hello to you little niece! What a darling little couple you both make, you simply must sell me one of the children! Im sure theyde be adorable and I would give you an excellent price!"

I wasn't sure wether to be shocked embarrassed or horrified so I went for all three, Toby seemed to be of the same mind. "I don't even know who you are! And Harry and I arent a couple! And I would never sell a child! Especially not to the fae!" I piped in my two sense "Yeah, what she said, only with a joke or two, and maybe a veiled threat." The womans beautiful face morphed back into that childish pout before she spun to the other woman in a huff "My queen theyre so rude! I shouldn't like to see them anymore, may I send them away?"

The other womans ice blue eyes levelled at her and she just…stopped. I didn't think it was magic or compulsion the weight of the blonde womans gaze was simply…implacable. It was like her eyes were the emerging tips of an iceberg, and under her scrutiny its full weight was brought to bear. She simply stared her down and then raised an imperious eyebrow. The rehead averted her gaze and gave a humble curtsy before returning her eyes to us, glaring a bit. "My name, rude little manchild, is the Leanansidhe. I am your godmother, and this ones aunt. It seems my queen brought you here, though for what business I cannot say."

She paused for a second and threw back her head. When it rocked forward again her eyes matched the queens eerie blue. "My handmaiden speaks a truth she believes but not a reality. I did not bring you to this place…or…not solely I. Anothers hand was at work this day, I simply subverted their guidance for my own ends." I was confused "Wait but you just said your queen brought us here now-" the blonde raised her eyebrow again the air crackled with such cold I had to slam my mouth shut to stop my lungs from coating with frost.

My godmother spoke again "Stupid boy, it is Mab who speaks now, the queen of air and darkness can use many voices. My handmaiden acts as my voice this day." I heard Toby suck in a violent gasp and spun to see her staring at the queen with no blood left in her face "Y-you're Mab? I-Ive heard of you, I never knew your name, but I knew Oberon had a third…woman. That makes you…" Leanansidhe's face smiled almost gently "Your grandmother, child, yes. Amandine is the eldest of my three daughters." I got the impression that behind that implacable cold some part of her wanted to reach out and touch Toby, but didn't.

She turned back to me "But I didn't interfere in such affairs to speak to my granddaughter, as much as I enjoy the opportunity. My quarry little wizard, is you." I gulped audibly "Me? What would a fairy queen want with me?" Her eyes were hard in my godmothers face "The dark and shadowed places of faerie are mine. The beast sought to use my places to kill not only my own granddaughter but the Dragon Kings protégé. I do not appreciate being used, little wizard." My eyes widened at that, Dragon King? Apparently Ferro was a hell of a lot scarier than I'd been aware of.

I shook my head to clear it and got back to the matter at hand, time enough for that later "Wait, what Beast? Is this the same thing that organized the werewolf attack in London?" The queens mouthpiece nodded "Even so. The wolflings were a product of the Beasts magic. It seeks the return of the magic you stole from it when you brought the girl to this world." I started swearing, I had been really hoping the Beast and the thing from Mals world weren't the same thing. "So you brought me here to what? Warn me about the Beast and what it wants to do to me and Mal?"

My godmothers mouth twisted into a cold smile and the queen bit out a laugh that cracked the air like flying chips of glacial ice "No, little beast, I brought you here to this place, where any blood spilled upon the table joins the power of faerie, to take that which the Beast seeks for my own. I brought you here to kill you."

 **Hey all its king, sorry about the long wait this one was really tough for me to finish, I need some more reviews guys if im gonna keep writing because they really do help me figure out where to go and motivate me to write. Hope to hear from you guys soon and hope you like the chapter.**


	13. Hazy Shade of Winter

Harry POV 

I couldnt even move. I was frozen in terror after what she'd just said. I mean obviously not literally frozen but I was pretty damn terrified. Toby was sitting next to me with a look on her face that seemed like a cross between terror and anger. She moved slightly to stand in front of me and I could feel her magic rising, Mab looked amused at that and I expected the redhead to appear the same but I was most surprised by the look on her face. Anger. The Leanansidhe was angry at the idea that her queen wanted to hurt me.

She stepped forward and stood next to her niece. My spirit soared, maybe with my power Tobys street smarts and the Leanansidhe's skills we might survive this. "My queen you know the oaths that bind me, I am sworn to stand against what harm would befall this child." Those frozen berry lips curled into an artic smile and when she opened her mouth and spoke I almost passed out from the pain.

"Oh Lea, so much of your father in you, what a shame, you could use some more of your mother, Maeve always knew when to keep her mouth shut. You are mine, foolish creature, does your oath necessitate such a token gesture? You well know you cant even attempt to stand against me. In fact, the idea offends me. Punish yourself." Her voice was…angelic. Like the feeling of final pleasure you get when the cold finally numbs you and stops the pain of frostbite. I felt blood trickle from my ears.

Before any of us could blink Leas hand flashed up and slapped her across her own face. I saw her pop her jaw back into place and wipe the blood from her nose. My soaring heart plummed down through the rapidly forming pit in my stomach and joined our chances of survival in hell, where theyde just been shot to. Mab checked her chin to the left and Lea went flying away, she walked slowly toaward Toby and I. Her face looked…blank, no emotion at all, somehow it was scarier than if she'd been enjoying herself. This wasn't a whim or something she was doing for fun, this was her purpose, and a Queen of the Sidhe fulfills her purpose.

She spared an almost sad look at Toby "You insist on being at odds? Your mother is my oldest and most beloved daughter, should I have the choice I wouldn't tell Amandine I destroyed her only child. This is foolishness, you accomplish nothing with this morbid little stand October Christine." I felt Tobys power flutter a bit and my heart sank even lower. Mab wasn't being arrogant or even just realistic, she knew Tobys NAME, like the whole thing. Shed used only part of it as a shot across the bow, to show Toby how hopeless this was, I stepped forward and put my hand on Tobys shoulder "Toby its alright. It'll be ok."

She flashed a hurt and almost betrayed look at me "You're just going to give up?" I smiled slightly and shook my head "Not at all, from what I know Dragons like I am now are on the same level as the Queens, and with the added power I already had as a wizard she'll have a tough time taking me do-" I didn't even finish my sentence before the binding hit me and locked me to the spot.

Mab shook her head, again almost sadly "While Dragons are quite powerful theres a difference between having power and knowing how to use it, I've forgotten more about magic than you couldlearn in a hundred years child, and Mab forgets nothing. You benefactor might have a chance at harming me, especially here, but luckily I didn't bring you here. The shadow roads twisted to my will but it wasn't I who put you on them. Ill take your power and add it to my own."

Toby spoke up defiantly "But whats the point? Sure you could kill him here where immortals can die and take his power but what then? At the solstice the power will simply pass to Titania, the balance will be destroyed but no real progress will be made." Mab looked so annoyed I swear she almost rolled her eyes, I felt an irrational surge of pride for Toby, she was being almost as annoying as I was.

Mabs reply was dripping with scorn "Because foolish child, the courts werent created to war with each other. Winter exists to protect this world from those who seek to invade from Outside this world, and with such power at my disposal atop my own, even for half the year, I could drive the outsiders from this world forever. Besides being a Dragon, the boy is also Star-born, his power can be wielded against outsiders with impunity. My long war will finally be over." Tobys jaw was hanging open like mine wouldve been if I could even move "Wait, If winter is here to protect the world from these outsider things why is summer here?"

Mabs laugh was like the crash of two glaciers slamming together, "Simple child, Summer exists to protect humanity from us." A warm, almost amused voice chose that moment to cut in "Well yes dear sister, which makes me wonder why you werent expecting us." The voice that cut in was…well basically everything Mabs wasn't. It was warm and lyrical and strong, standing there I felt the chill recede and the pain in my ears abate, I felt like I was laying in a field of flowers in the springtime watching clouds float past. The woman who appeared in my field of vision to join the voice was much the same.

Mabs sister was…well a lot like Mab. But somehow the features that seemed cold and remote on a woman who she was nearly identical to seemed warm and inviting, the skin that seemed so icy pale on Mab just seemed bright like sunshine on Titania, her lips, the same color as her sisters seemed the color of ripening berries rather than frozen ones. Her hair, the same platinum blonde looked like spun sunlight instead of mabs own icy mane. Next to the woman stood a younger but no less beautiful version of her. The younger girl, obviously her daughter, gave me a pleasant friendly smile that made my stomach flutter before flicking her wrist and tossing a sizzling bolt of power at the binding around me.

I felt the spell merge with the magic around me and somehow make it more…brittle, and it was the simplest thing in the world to call the heat of my power in response to that blazing magic and bring the full might of the Dragon against the binding, shattering it from both sides. Mab raised an eyebrow at her sister, ignoring the younger girl who was giving me a sunny smile "Titania, I was expecting you to be a bit longer, I suppose Lea mustve called you when my back was turned. So much punishment owed to that child. Your mandate to protect humans applies to neither of these beings. The boy is a Dragon and the girl is Amandines child, which would make her mine."

The other queen, Titania, gave a bold smile "Where Winter moves Summer follows, as you well know, aside from the fact that all changelings are mine until the choice, I couldn't pass up a chance to catch you unprepared in our ancient battleground. You didn't have time to bring the appropriate forces and take advantage of this opportunity at the same time. Even were young Lea to not resist you and drag her feet carrying out your orders she's no match for my Aurora and the two of you together wouldn't be able to defeat us. It takes a queen to counter a queen dear sister and a lady to counter a lady. Ive blocked off the avenues you would use to call for reinforcements. Your Bishop has fled dear sister, discovered check, your move."

Mabs eyes looked if possible icier before flicking to me "It's a shame dear child, I'd have made your death quick and painless. Such a pity I cant same the same of the beast. The time will come boy when youll wish you had died here." The next minute she and Lea were both gone, leaving me with a very bad feeling.

 **Ok guys king here, im starting to pickup the train of though on this one again, but ive been seriously lacking in reviews, the more I get the more inspired I am folks everyone says it but it's a cliché for a reason. To address some things about this chapter, in the october daye universe the fae are all descended from oberon and his wives titania and maeve. Spoiler alert Tobys mom is the child of oberon and an unidentified fae woman who I believe was Mab and is for the purposes of this story. As for Lea being maeves daughter in the books Maeve gave birth to the dark fae and Lea being third strongest in the court is more than strong enough to be a firstborn. As for Mal and John we'll see more next chapter.**


	14. Burning for You

Mal POV

I couldn't understand what was happening. One minute Toby and Harry were pulling a bit ahead and then suddenly they were both gone. I started to panic, the street around us wasn't crowded so there were no crowds for them to hide in, and Harrys scent just ended at the corner. John was spinning in circles muttering under his breath, apparently going through a battery of quick and dirty locator spells, from the look on his face it seemed like my friend had picked up on some kind of magical signature when they disappeared but he wasn't having any luck locking onto it.

Johns muttering and chanting started to take on a desperate edge, rising to a fever pitch as blood started to trickle from his nose. After five minutes of non-stop casting and chanting, having pulled several fetishes and foci from his coat and burned them all out, John slumped exhausted against the wall. "Sorry luv, I cant pick up hide nor hair of them. I exhausted every locator spell , tracking spell, directional spell, hell I even tried a find me spell that just gives you a direction, even that one failed. Whatever took them did it fast and thoroughly, they didn't leave a trace."

I cursed violently at that "What made you start on the locator spells, did you feel some trace of what took them? Maybe something you could latch onto?" John shook his head in an exhausted slump, his eyes looking hollow and hazy "The opposite. You and Harry leak magic, theres so much of it in you it pours off in waves. Harry's better at controlling it, presumably because of all the magic training , but even being around him is like walking through a field of very gentle jellyfish stings. When that feeling of power coming off him just vanished without any apparent reason I got nervous and tried to pickup his trail, thinking maybe he noticed it and tamped down on it but theres not a trace of him."

I lashed at out at the wall next to us with my fist reducing it to rubble "Fuck! Well where could he be? Is it possible Toby somehow cloaked them when they went around the corner? She seemed so nice but I know some fairy magic from my mother and there are a few spells that could do that. A hide and seek would be perfect here, she would just need to break line of sight and it would make them untraceable." I was nearly snarling at the idea of that little tramp stealing my mate. She'd seemed like a friendly person but if she'd taken what was mine I was going to crack her chest open and gnaw out her still beating heart.

John shook his head again, this time a bit harder, almost like he needed to clear it "No dice luv, Toby had a decent bit of kick but she was even younger than us, fairy or no, no one with that little power is laying down a cover I cant punch through. Its not just about ego, I carry some extremely powerful dark objects on my person. Im talking specialized stuff here, and I straight burned some of it out with those tracking spells. Nothing short of a full on demon lord or something in that league, maybe a fairy queen, would be capable of holding a spell against all those different magics."

He sounded incredibly frustrated by his own perceived incompetence " Maybe she couldve held off one or two attempts, but burning out my monkeys paw, and not crumpling under my aboriginal pointing bone too? That's hardcore black magic, theres a decent chance ill go to hell for knowing what those even are. We're talking the kind of hoodoo that stains your soul just by knowing about it and I got nothing. Its like they were never even there. Honestly luv, this kind of power scares me, and not the fun kind of scared like Amelia made me last night. The pants shitting eye crossing knee weakening kind of terror you only get when things get truly bad."

I gritted my teeth at that news, the kind of power John was describing was impressive to say the least, I didn't know what most of those artifacts he used were (even in my world we'de heard of the power of a monkeys paw, and Johns had looked suspiciously like it mightve also been a hand of glory) but I'd been able to sense a certain intense power coming from them. John had used enough magic that with a less concentrated string of spells he couldve demolished a city block, and it had gotten us nowhere, which meant that not only had their trail been taken with magic, I was willing to bet they werent physically in the area anymore.

This wasn't a stretched out masking spell over a long path, if magic here was anything like back home, to survive that kind of repeated beating the spell needed to be stable and of a determinate size. No spell that covered miles would have the concentration needed for that, which meant they'de disappeared right here out from under the noses of all these people and neither they nor us had noticed and they'de left a plane we could track them on. "Well can you tell if there were any entrances to the Nevernever opened near here lately?"

Another mournful shake of the head "Sorry luv, first thing I tried, we're working on a focal point, which would normally be good, because even if we cant track them we should just be able to punch a hole to the nevernever to get to them, but wherever they went im thinking it was more direct than a Way, theres no rips or tears in the veil near here, not even a concealed one, I can tell you that much for sure. Which means either they were taken through a literal portal, which would be very bad because nothing we want to meet has the power to literally rip adjoining holes in spacetime, or they went through one of the old ways, and again not good because the old ways crisscross the nevernever and only certin beings can get in, so they could be anywhere by now and we cant follow." **1**

I gave a shuddering exhalation "We're going to need major league help, we've gotta go get Ferro and Amelia" I felt like I was almost in a haze as we tracked down a streetcar and climbed on to head back to the waterfront and the circus. The fear gripping my heart was squeezing so tight I was afraid it might burst, if something has truly happened to Harry, then I was alone. I hadnt minded being stuck in this world because of him but being in this strange terrifying land without my mate, being reminded of him everywhere I looked, and being without him when I finally felt like my heart had been fixed after all these years was the worst thing I could imagine.

The buildings and alleys and shops that had seemed so interesting earlier in the day just faded into a grey blur as my eyes stared blankly past them into eternity. I'd never even considered what it might be like to lose him, I'de been so damaged before I'd gotten here, and felt so good being fixed in ways I hadnt even realized I was broken that I hadnt had time to think of how scary this whole thing was. Leaving all my friends and my home and everything I was familiar with. Sure my mom had done a real number on me, no denying that, but was she worse than being alone? If I decided to go back was there even a way for me to do so?

I shook my head roughly to clear it, I was counting Harry out, he was every bit as powerful as me, and some ways even stronger, Dragons are notoriously hard to kill, and Harry was a wizard on top of that. I was so caught up in my breakdown that I didn't even notice the streetcar had stopped on the street that was closest to the circus until John shook my shoulder to tell me we had to get off. He gave me a worried glance as we climbed out of the trolley and descended the grass embankment on the side of the road toward the waterfront.

It probably took us about twenty minutes to make the climb down, which we did in silence, though I couldn't be sure, time didn't feel real. When we reached the bank and started the ourney along it to where the circus lay hidden in a suspiciously convenient cops of incredibly well spaced trees John finally spoke up "They'll be fine y'know. Dresden is one of the scarier blokes I've met in my time and that's really saying something trust me. If he was able to handle that enhanced werewolf in London no measly little fairy will take him out, and our Toby doesn't strike me as a pushover. The girls a scrapper, right and proper, and she has the look of someone whose gotten out of some tough scrapes with just her wits. They'll take care of each other."

Which was a thought I hated honestly, not that Harry would be taken care of, of course I wanted that, but that I wasn't there to do it, and that pretty little Toby with the fog grey eyes was there with him when I couldn't be. I knew I was being irrational and stupid and I was about to snap at John when we came through a gap in the trees to see Amelia pacing back and forth agitatedly. She spotted us and hurried over grabbing us both in a hug before quickly and roughly shoving us away.

"Stupid children" she spat with little to no venom "What took you so long? I've been worried sick." We exchanged a wideeyed glance and John spoke up "How did you know something had happened?" Amelia rolled her eyes and gave me a conspiratorial look of exasperation "That'll teach me to explain anything before sex, tell a man he's gonna get a little ass and his brain just shuts right off. Remember last night Johnny? The part before I took my clothes off? When I mentioned I'd be bonding with you? I can feel extreme enough emotions and powerful enough magics. Not empathy but anything major bleeds through."

She fixed her eyes back on him giving him an annoyed glare "And we're gonna be having a long discussion about what kind of toys youre allowed to play with in the future baby, I have a migraine from hell from all the disgusting muck you were raking over your soul. Ciggarettes I can deal with, but I wont have you tainting your soul anymore than it already is, it isnt yours to blacken. However I was able to make contact through the bond and get in a few spells of my own while you worked, and despite the disgusting aftertaste I got a flash or two of insight through the wall of magical fuck you that Mab laid down."

My eyes widened, I remembered Mab from some of our lessons, and from his inhalation John knew her too. John spoke up "Putting a pin in the whole 'Not yours to blacken' thing, which we will definitely talk about later, you're saying MAB was the one who took Harry? QUEEN MAB?" Amelia gave him an annoyed glare "Ok first of all moron don't say her name a third time, what are you retarded? Second of all obviously, he's in faerie, though Ferro and I cant tell exactly where, we have a few ideas on where to start looking. We're leaving immediately, and I assume the two of you will want to come? Mal is needed for tracking purposes but I figure you're interested too Johnny, although seeing how tired you look youde probably rather go take a nap."

Johns nostrils flared in outrage "Too bloody right im comin! You're not leaving me behind while you charge off to gods only know where. Aside from the fact that my master cum fuck buddy is gonna be going off half cocked after a fairy queen, my friend is missing and my other friend is in shambles over it. Not to mention the fact that the girl who was with him was adorable and totally giving me a vibe." Amelias lips twiched and her brown braids danced as she tried to stifle a chuckle.

John just glared and stalked past her towards her tent where presumably he'd left some of his things. He'd tapped out all the dark object on him and if we were going to be going into faerie I assumed he'd have to re-up his cache. Knowing John the chances of him having a stockpile of more powerful fetishes that werent for everyday use were nearly a hundred percent. Amelia led me through the circus, passing striped tents and booths being set up for the nights festivities, she led me through a maze of twists and turns and finally out to Ferro's giant tent, situated this time right on the edge of the water.

I noticed that not a single bug or animal from the river strayed near Ferros tent, in fact the normal sounds of wildlife in the area were absent entirely, clearly everything in this vicinity was smart enough to realize that you didn't fuck with a Dragons lair. Even the water seemed to be almost terrified into stillness, there wasn't even a ripple on the surface and any of it leaving coming over the banks to trouble Ferro seemed like it would violate the laws of nature. Amelia pulled the cloth aside and led us into an extravagently appointed chamber.

The walls were made of stone somehow, the thick, square blocks of a medieval castle, and torches say in wall sconses along the length of the hall that was much to big to fit inside even the massice tent id seen. Every three or four sconses was a window draped with thick expensive looking red curtins, maybe velvet, and tied on either side with ropes that looked like actual spun gold, there were three windows on each side of the hall and each one looked out over a different scene, some night, some day, and one that looked like it might be the alien landscape of a totally different planet.

There were a few pieces of elegant furniture scattered about, a dark wood armoire in a corned, and a matching dresser on the opposite side of the hall, beneath the alien window. A table with a rich silk tablecloth of bone white inlais with gold emroidery spanned the space between two of the windows, and from under the tablecloth peeked what looked like a worn wooden bench attached to the table, like a viking hall of old. But the truly breathtaking sight was the floor. Gold. Wall to wall and end to end, dubloons, jewelry, armor, swords, scales, globes, compasses, hourglasses, anything you could imagine making out of gold it lay gleaming among Ferros hoard.

I'd seen hoards before, my mother had pictures in a book of one of her old hoards from before Aurora had been born, but it was nothing like this. The actual floor of this room wasn't visible but I could tell from some sunken portions that this treasure was a good two or three feet high at least in most places, this would be enough to several of the street cars we'de ridden on earlier today, and the part that really scared me was that not a single object in this hoard was magical in any way.

Dragons adore magical arifacts, adore power of any kind, really. If Ferro wasn't keeping any of the mystical stuff here it meant this was his JUNK, just little baubles he liked enoguh to pick up over the centuries. I was almost terrified of how much bigger the magical hoard would be, because it was always bigger, the magical stuff was what Dragons really wanted. This was just incidental crap, and it was still the biggest hoard id ever seen. I suspected that Ferro spent most of his nights in here in his true form sleeping on piles of gold. Another reason most Dragons get a pile or two of regular gold to sleep on because the chemicls strengthen our hides, but still it was usually only a mound or two, you could always use a dragons junk hoard as a measure of how big his real hoard would be and if that was true in this world Ferro's was HUGE.

Ferro was in the corner opposite the armoire stuffing a few glass orbs from an old leatherbound chest with iron locks into a brown leather backpack. I realized as he opened the chest that I'd been wrong, at least one of the objects in this room was magical. Both bag and chest looked worn and weatherbeaten, and the orbs had a strange glow about them, some burning within as if aflame, one of them looked as if a storm was raging inside the glass, and one was a dull, flat black. The black one seemed to almost eat the light around it and I thought Ferro looked a bit more careful with that one as he slipped it gently into the bag. He snagged a gold brocade robe from the mounds nearst him and stuffed it in, presumably to pad the orbs and then stood and turned to us.

He inclined his head to Amelia and then to me "I believe preparations are all well in order, Mr. Constantine should be along any moment now, Miss Mal, I trust you're ready to depart? Apologies for springing this on you but time is of course of the essence and due to the unexpected nature of your arrival in this world we assumed you wouldn't have much to do in the way of battle preperations. We did however take it upon ourselves to obtain a few trinkets you can use for our journey."

He nodded to Amelia who reached into the matching leather bag I hadnt noticed her wearing and drew out a dark green arming jacket, I wasn't sure what material it was made of but there was a certain slick insusbstantiality to it that made me think it probably wasn't pig skin. As I put the jacket on (and felt the coat contract and adjust to fit me perfectly, ew) she dug back in and pulled out a short club of polished shining wood, wrapped at several poins with spiked rings on bronze silver and iron. She handed me the club (much heavier than it looked) and looked me over before nodding in satisfaction and digging back into the pack.

For a moment I thought she was going to hand me something else but then John moved the flap of the tent aside and came in. Without missing a beat Amelia pulled out a mirror polished bronze dagged with a black iron hilt and shoved it at John, quickly strapping the pack back up and swinging it over her shoulder as he took the knife. John took in the room with about as much aplomb as I had, whistling in wonder at all the finery, he turned to Ferro "Bloody hell mate, don't suppose you've got too much of this and are looking for a rakishly handsome englishman to take it off your hands?"

Ferro dismissed him with a raised eyebrow and turned to the empty space behind him. Before I knew what he was doing he made a gesture and we were….elsewhere. Harry had described the process of opening a Way to me once, like cutting a hole in the world that you could walk through into another. Ferro didn't do that, he just sort of, swirled the universe round us like a cloak and suddenly we were stnading in what appeared to be a barren rocky clearing. The terrain was harsh, with little grass and lots of rocks and small hills. Ferro turned to Amelia who took a sniff and shook her head, then swung back to us.

He looked right at me "Mal, as im sure Amelia mentioned we havent got much of an idea where Harry actully is, fairie is prohibitively large, so searching by any non magical means is lunacy. However we believe that since Harry and yourself share such a close connection, now that we're in the same realm as he is we should be ble to use you to locate him. We can avoid clashing with the protective magics masking his trail by searching for the portion of your soul within his instead of for Harry himself."

I grinned at that "Loophole huh? Fairies love loopholes, itll serve the bastards right. How does the search process work, does it hurt? Toby should be with him so if we can find Harry we can grab them both easily enough." This seemed like the best possible plan, we were all going to be fine, I'd get Harry back and save Toby and we'de all be ok, I'd gotten worried and jealous over nothing.

"Actually" cut in a cold and controlled voice with a lilting scottish brogue "I should think ya' wont be grabbin' anyone at all." We all turned as one to glance towards the voice and froze. A man stood on the outcropping closest to us, and surrounding the base of said rock were maybe twent or thirty powerful fae. I could feel the energy rolling off them all, not a one of them felt weaker than Harry when we'de first met, and most of them seemed quite a bit stronger than that.

The red haired man glaring down at us was probably the most powerful of the lot, and something about the way he was holding himself spoke of an intimate familiarity with violence. Not only did he reek of competence he also nearly vibrated with barely controlled rage. I wasn't sure what was making this man so angry but I had a sneaking suspicion that we didn't want him that way. I frowned up at him but before I could speak Ferro's voice cut the night, and I realized for the first time how much ferro held back arund us every single day as he neutrally amused words nearly drove me to my knees.

"I'm sure theres some misunderstanding, little fae. That almost sounded like a threat to me and mine." It took every ounce of my willpower to keep my feet, I had no clue how the fae managed it with that voice actually AIMED at him, but he did. His retainers were driven to the ground and John seemed unnafected, which impressed me until I noticed Amelias hand on his arm. The redhaired man, whose blue velvet frock coat and finely tailored trousers spoke of a nobility that belied the ease with which he looked like he could use the sword his hand was resting gently upon, just sneered at Ferro.

"My name" He said lazily "Is Duke Sylvester Torquil, Lord of Shadowed Hills, and you should watch how you speak to me in my dutchy, lizard, I've slain more than my share of your kind." I recognized the volunteering of so much of his name as the insult it was, names had power, and the duke was implying that Ferro wasn't dangerous enough to worry about giving him that power. What genuinely worried me though was the scornful ease with which he'de shrugged off the effects of Ferro's voice, and the stink of dogwood and daffodils permeating the air that kicked harshly of powerful magic.

My eyes widened as I placed the name. Toby! She'de told us all about her duke at Shadowed Hills and what a wonderful man he was, he mustve heard me mention grabbing her and thought I was a threat. "Wait!" I shouted as I saw Ferros eyes flash angrily "We want the same thing here guys, Mr. Ferro this is Tobys guardian, he must be here looking for her, he heard me say we'de grab her and Harry and assumed I was a threat!" I turned to face him "Toby is lost with my mate, we're trying to find them too. We have a way to track them, and if you let us we can lead you to her." All I could hope as the words flowed out of my mouth was that things hadnt escalated too quickly to stop, we were wasting time, time I wasn't sure my Harry had.

Harry POV

After Mab vanished I turned to smile at the two remaining queens. Aurora, a beautiful blonde with a dazzling smile that warmed the coldest depths of my heart, ws looking at us both sympathetically. I realized we mustve looked terrible, we'de been wandering alone in the dark and cold for hours and then we'de run across Mab and Lea. The feeling of finally being able to exhale was almost intoxicating, somewhere deep down in my subconscious I realized these women were still just as much of a threat, but something about their presence was just so peaceful and reassuring.

Auroras brilliant smile turned a shade more soothing as she stepped up to help me over to the table, I realized I suddenly felt so very weak from all the fear and running, the strength had been pulled from my body like bones from a fish and I just felt limp and powerless. Aurora leaned me against the table and placed a hand on my chest, and I felt power begin to pour in, warm and sweet and somehow like things growing and being alive.

Titania took Tobys hand and led her over to where I was standing to also lean against the table, it occurred to me that maybe leaning against the table we were supposed to be sacrificed on might not be the safest thing to be doing. Titania must have picked up on my fear because she let out a tinkling bell-like laugh and smiled gently at me "Fear not little Dragon, I shant harm you nor allow you to come to harm through inaction this night, such is the word of the queen who is." My mouth literally dropped open in shock. Faeries as a rule don't offer their word without some serious compensation and queens are even more stingy.

Faeries literally cant lie, as in theyre physically unable, and their word is literally their bond.I officially had a promise of safe passage from a QUEEN of faerie, and you can take that to the bank, I felt a lot better about relaxing back against the table next to Toby. We could literally lay down and go to sleep and we'de be fine…at least until morning when either the queens or anything else in faerie would be free to merrily crush our heads like David Copperfield smashing a particularly offensive watermelon. That image made me substantially less tired, but I still leaned back to rest my weary muscles.

The queens shared a quiet smile "So Harry" began Aurora, and my eyes went a little dreamy at the musical silvery tone of her voice "As summer we of course oppose the will of winter, if Mab wants you dead you're welcome to come to us for anything you need." I swear to god she gave me a hot once over, and my face nearly spontaneously combusted, I was going to politely aknowledge her offer (without thanks, you never thank the fae, it implies obligation) but Toby stepped forward to stand in front of me and actually GLARED at the summer lady!

Her face was almost as tight as her voice as she bit out "We of course appreciate your kind and generous offer lady, but we shant be staying too long within your domain, as Harry needs to get back to his mate." I knew Toby must be near her breaking point for the night as well, and if she wasn't careful she'd make a mistake that would follow her forever. The queens were immortal, as are most if not all pureblood fae, and like all other fae they can hold a grudge into the stars go out and can be spiteful as hell when they finally took their revenge.

I had expected anger or amusement or maybe dismissal,what I had not expected was delight. Aurora beamed at Toby and leaned forward to enfold the girl in a big bear hug "Oh you're such a caring friend, I had hoped you would be, do not misunderstand cousin, I have no wish to take Harry from his mate or anyone else. I would never wish to make you feel abandoned. We shall take him together, he can have you when he is done with me, or if you'de prefer I can even let him take you first." She leaned back in the hug and laid a hot, pantsrendingly sexy kiss on Tobys mouth, and I saw plenty of tongue.

Toby looked a cross between horny dazed and mortified when she pullled back, her eyes hazy and her mouth hanging open, lips still swollen. Aurora reached down to grab Tobys (now that I was looking very shapely) ass and pull the older looking girls hips against her own. "He can take us both for days, we shant stop till he gets a child on us both." She winked at Tobys blushing mortified face "Perhaps not even then."

At this point I could barely form a coherent thought and Titania simply looked exasperated I glanced pleadingly at the queen and she actually rolled her eyes "Aurora darling, do you think perhaps the boys Draconic nature may be triggering your mating urge a bit?" She turned to me with an apologetic smile "Summer are a passionate folk and we arent shy about expressing it, but this is a bit forward even for one of us, Auroras father was a Dragon, and she hasnt been exposed to many others of her kind." She glared at Aurora, and the heat from that glare literally singed my eyebrows.

Aurora looked chastened and pulled back from Toby with a bit of a pout "Yes I am sorry, it is the way of our kind that unmated female Dragons should seek to mate with powerful males, our race has become very scarce in recent times and as an evolutionary countermeasure the mating call is much stronger than it used to be. But I am no hatchling whelp, I am of the fae as well as of the Drakir, I shall control my urges." She glanced at Toby guiltily "Besides my cousin is under my protection as a subject of my mother, its poor form to use her so shamefully."

Toby for her part looked like she mightve enjoyed being used a bit more shamefully than that but also seemed to agree that it was time to stop and seemed grateful to Aurora, at least until what she said registered "Wait, Mab said something about that too, and you mentioned it earlier, if Mab is my grandmother how are you my queen?" She seemed to have regained her balance somewhat now that she had something to focus on.

Aurora smiled at the girl serenely "Well of course that's because youre a changeling, all changelings are the purview of summer, though to be frank you wouldve been ours anyway. As a foster at Shadowed Hills you're a member of the court of the mists, and through that the court of the westlands, and King Aethland pays homage to us." She seemed to speak fondly of all of the mentioned places, as if she'd been living at every place mentioned for years now and thought of them as home. When she spoke of King Aethland there was a sense of geniune fondness in her tone, and I wondered if he was really such a good guy or if she just spoke of everyone that way.

Tobys eyes were wide "King Aethland pays homage to you? But I thought the westlands were their own independent state within the kingdoms of faerie. I know that we all owe fealty to winter or summer at some level but I didn't know you directly installed our monarchies." Auroras smile cracked into another silvery laugh "Well you didn't think kings of faerie were chosen by divine providence did you?"

I grinned and couldn't help but say in an appalling english accent "Strange women lying in ponds distrubuting cutlery is no basis for a system of government." The other three women all gave me very strange looks, and I suddenly felt a bit like the kid in the corner wearing a dunce cap because I messed up two plus two. I grinned back sheepishly "Sorry its a quote from one of my favorite films, I couldn't help myself, your comment about divine providence sounded just like the line that preceded my quote."

Titania smiled in understanding and Toby giggle at my enthusiasm, Aurora just looked interested "What film is it that you speak of? I confess I tend to avoid the trappings of modern mortality, I prefer the arts of music and poetry and paint. But I have heard these films you speak of referred to as art as well, and art can be so very beautiful, perhaps I shall find this film and watch it someday."

I grinned broadly at that image enjoying the mental picture of the summer lady watching the holy grail, and was suddenly nearly overcome with giggles at the idea of a battalion of summer warriors falling upon the forces of winter screaming "NEE!" in high pitched voices "Its called Monty Python and the Holy Grail,my lady. It's a comedy, I could give you a list if youde like, of several movies you might enjoy." If summer were really supposed to protect humanity as Aurora and Titania said (and they couldn't lie) maybe being more a part of it themselves would help.

Aurora gave me a dazzling smile and threw her arms around me, which led to a slightly uncomfortable hug, as despite her mothers earlier warnings Aurora rolled her hips against mine and gave a short breathy moan. I tried to smack her, hoping the sting would bring her back to her senses but with my arms around her I just ended up slapping her hard on her rather toned ass. This time her moan wasn't as short and she grabbed me by the hair and yanked me down into a searing kiss. Go figure apparently the summer lady was a big fan of spanking.

My mind was pretty muddled at this point and I could barely even think, Aurora had me backed against the table and had her knees to either side of my hips while she rolled that perfect ass, dragging her pussy (which was so hot I could feel it through my pants and her dress, and presumably would be able to feel it through the underwear I was pretty sure she wasn't wearing) up the (admittedly strained ) front of my pants. It took me a minute to collect myself with the taste of butterscotch nearly suffocating me as I sucked on her tongue, but Dragon hormones ( which I was now pretty positive were a two sided thing and not girls only) be damned I was taken. I shoved against her and her knees fell off the table sliding her back to drop a few feet and land on her perfect little ass.

I glared at her "I was under the impression you had agreed to stop that kind of thing. I have a mate, I would never fuck someone else without her permission and approval, neither of which you have." I was all set to be enraged at the violation but ended up being mortified when Aurora burst into TEARS. My face must have shown my terror and the primal panic all men feel when a woman cries and we may have been the cause of it, because Titania gave me a soft smile.

"She is weeping at her own weakness not at your rejection, Aurora is much older than she appears, she hasn't been subject to emotional outbursts since she was a small child, she was overwhelmed by the mating call, and it says much about your character that you were able to resist. She didn't mean to attack you in such way and for a fae loss of control is as good as death, queens are held to an even higher standard, I should think this mortification would be enough to prevent further incident, and we bear you no ill will for your refusal, nor the method you chose to express it through."

She turned to Toby and I almost shouted with alarm at the fact that Toby was frozen still. No breathing no blinking, but her hands were in an attack position, she'd been readying magic to use against her queen. My face went bone white with terror, I could feel the blood drain away. I had safe passage butToby hadnt been part of that deal, and attacking ones own queen was treason in basically any court I'd ever heard of.

I was expecting anger or outrage from Titania but she seemed to be…not pleased but…certain, like Toby had confirmed something. She strode over to my frozen friend, and before my battered body could react to try to save her, she unfroze her in a heartbeat. Toby looked shocked and a little scared to see Titania apparently appear out of nowhere but the queen smiled gently and placed her hand on my friends shoulder "That was very brave of you October" I felt a shudder of power strobe out from the two fae women as the queen said Tobys name.

Toby looked awestruck, and Titania continued speaking "October do you know what it means that your mother is a child of Mab?" Toby struggled to respond under the weight of the queens attention but managed a shake of her head "It means that your mother was of the Firstborn. You may have noticed your power doesn't reflect that status, do you know why?" Again Toby gave a shake of her head "The reason" said Titania gently "Is that your mother isnt the Firstborn of an fae race you've heard of. You and your mother are the only fae who possess your bloodline, and its very special."

Toby finally managed to speak under all that shining attention "Wait, so I'm the only changeling of my race? But I thought I was Daoine Sidhe?" Titania shook her head "That's what your mother was hoping you would think, there are several things about your species you share with Daoine Sidhe, and your mother thought if others believed you a normal changeling you would be safer for it. But your talent for bloodworking is far beyond any Daoine Sidhe. Do you know what a Hope Chest is?"

This time the nod was quick and certain and Toby actually answered again, I suspect the binding Titania had used to stop her from attacking Aurora had been a bit stronger than necessary "The hope chests were carved by the Father of our races, Oberon. They represent the hope of a changeling who doesn't want to remain caught between worlds. The hope chests can push the balance of a Faes blood from halfway to full blooded, either in the human or fae directions or to any balance in the between." She recited this part like this was something she knew by heart, and I suspected tht Toby, as a changeling, had once wished for a hope chest very badly.

Titania picked up on it too I think "Well put, and that's why your race is so important October, your mother alone among the pureblood sidhe can push the balance of anothers blood, even Oberon our king didn't have that power, and should others find out you would both be hunted ceaselessly. To protect you from being noticed your mother used her gift on you, the reason your gifts havent become more apparent and drawn suspicion as well as the reason for your lack of power is that your mother changed the balance of your blood to nearly human. As the daughter of a firstborn youre heir to some of the most potent powers of faerie, and if you agree to stay with Harry and protect him, I can help you obtain that power."

I was nearly as shocked by that as Toby looked, so shocked that I had to cut in "Wait, why would you want to protect me? You don't even know me, and I don't want to do anything that might endanger Toby." Titania raised an annoyed eyebrow at the interruption "As I mentioned to you earlier boy, what winter seeks, summer wishes hidden. My sister wants you dead on this table, so I want you alive in the world, October is a powerful ally and knows much about faerie, should she have been in possession of her full powers she wouldve been capable of leaving the shadow roads with you in tow without much trouble."

Tobys eyes widened at that "Wait I would be that strong?" Titania gave her a condescending smirk "That and more besides dear, but lets not beat around the bush as the humans say. You hate being a changeling, being neither one thing nor the other, I'm offering a way to end the pain, to become full blooded sidhe, a child of a firstborn no less. Lets not pretend like its something you need to think about." Toby gave me a guilty look, and I realized she didn't want to look weak in front of me and gave her a reassuring smile.

I looked her in the eye as I spoke "Toby listen to me, if this is what you want, then you should do it, I don't want you risking your life for me but I have no right to tell you how to live it, I cant imagine what being a changeling is like, but you mentioned how much it hurt, how much it tore at you being pulled in two directions. Do what you need to." Toby gave me a grateful smile and nodded to Titania. The queen leaned forward and whispered in Tobys ear and sent a gentle pulse of power through the hand on her shoulder.

I felt Tobys power rise to answer and it felt…kind of like one of those endless scarf tricks, Titanias power pulled Tobys out nd directed it, the more she pulled the more Toby seemed to become…fae, her ears sharper her features more beautiful. The more fae she became the more power there was the faster she changed, within maybe a minute or two Titanias power had been withdrawn and Tobys sort of…popped. The last of the power gave an explosion of magic as her humanity shattered, and a supernaturally beautiful fae girl gave an exultant grin and began to spin giddily in circles.

There were other changes in her, not just the physical, but I thought those might be from the relief of not being unfinished anymore. Her shoulders were relaxed her spine less straight, her eyes less sad and haunted. She grinned at me in wonder and joy and ran to me to throw her arms around me in a hug of pure elation "Harry look at me! Feel me! I'm whole, I feel so different, so strong so fast, I feel perfect, like im what I always shouldve been." She was squeezing me harder than any human coulve, and if I hadnt been a Dragon I mightve been hurt, but I didn't think she needed the negativity right now, I was her friend and I could take it, let her hug me as hard as she wants.

I returned the hug and grinned at Titania "Well seems like you did a good thing here, she seems happy. I really only have one question." Titania raised an eyebrow "And that would be what wizard?" I furrowed my eyebrows "You said whenever winter makes a move summer counters, I assume the reverse is also true." Titania nodded at that "Of course, we are always in contention what of it?" I motioned to Toby "Why didn't winter try to stop this, and as a bonus, what did Mab mean earlier when she said she wasn't expecting you YET."

Titania simply shrugged "My sister released her guard from service to move with haste, I did the same, but where she and Maeve are in contention, Aurora and I work in concert" she gestured wryly to her tear streaked daughter sitting miserably on the stone table where shed pushed me to rest earlier. I nodded and continued my thought "Right but she's been gone for like twent minutes, why hasn't she sent a hit squad to catch you alone?" Titanias eyes widened, and I realized for the first time that faerie queens arent perfect, Titania had become distracted, she hadnt realized how long it'd been. Her eyes lost focus for a second and then she spun and sent a crackling wave of flame at the empty air behind her.

The flames slammed into empty air, and I half expected the beings beneath them to burn to ash, what I did not expect at all was the huge black ice armored trolls to be holding fucking RIOT SHIELDS! The trolls created a sort of shieldwall of the ice shields and instead of melting as natural ice would they banked the wave of flame before any damage could be done. Aurora had started moving a second after her mothers change of expression and with a gesture a wave of violent green vegetation went barreling toward the trolls. They dug their thirteen shields into the earth and went to their knees and when the greenery met the wall of ice, it was pushed back. Deep furrows appeared in the earth where the shields had been raked through the dirt but they stayed upright.

Toby looked a bit lost but even with added power she still had a basic understanding of magic, unfortunately she didn't know much evocation, but she managed a massive burst of gale force wind, that sadly broke on the shields of the trolls as had the offense of the queens. I grinned viciously, ever since I'd become a Dragon I'd been learning and growing, trying to control and tame what I was, but here in faerie and with these inhuman enemies before me I knew it was time for me to really let loose.

I smiled nastily at the trolls and bellowed "FUEGO! PYROFUEGO!"and let loose the storm of power inside me. The torrent of white hot flame that roared forth from me was like nothing ide ever felt. It was like…coming home, letting out my breath, finally being able to relax after years of non stop hard work. When the steam and smoke cleared the middle ranks of those trolls had become a ruinous crater. Six of the trolls had been completely incinerated, but I was the other seven group up and heard low guttural chanting. I felt the magic reinforcing their shields and knew that here in their place of stregth, and after using so much of my power that first shot, my big punch wasn't going to work again.

Titania made a gesture and the furrow in the ground my spell had dug widened and deepened, creating a huge chasm between us and the Trolls,before turning to me "Well done indeed wizard, those trolls are the Artis Legio, Mabs personal guard, slaying six with a single blast is no mean feat. Were summer not waning I shouldve crushed them all with that first strike but my sister chose her time with care, she seems to have enchanted those shields herself, they possess deep reserves of winter power, with her strength on the rise and mine in decline matching our strength is ill advised."

I nodded at Aurora "Isnt that why you brought her? Two against one? " Titania nodded but didn't look comforted "The power still wouldve been ill matched but with two vessels we wouldve had an advantage in tactics, and as the Leanansidhe was the one who alerted us my sister would hardly be fool enough to rely on her as a second. We outmaneuvered her. But the Arctis Legio are powerful and old, and there are still seven of them. Despite how easy that probably seemed to you every one of them is least ten thousand years old. You caught them off guard and they paid for it but that wont happen again. This fight will not be ours to win."

Which was about the time the mate black orb sailed over our heads and shattered in the middle of the remaining seven Arctis Legio. About ten seconds after that was when the screaming started. When the black orb shattered there was…a warping in the air at point of impact the world in that spot became, unnatural, became wrong. The first sign that things were going to get messy was the gravity, the closest Troll was torn in half as one half of his body became too heavy to exist and splattered to the ground so hard it became a paste, while the other half lifted off the ground and floated away. One of the others froze so hard he shattered from the sudden change in volume and the shard burst into white hot flames as the fell to the ground.

All around the laws of reality went into shuddering convulsions and died, one Troll turned to sand, one to glass and a third appeared to just explode into what looked like diamond dust. The last two Trolls had it the worst though, the air between them seemed to somehow lose relevance and they were suddenly occupying the same space, a screaming twisted mass of flesh and extremeties screaming in impotent agony as the wrongness of its existence literally ripped away its life from sheer horror. The thing just…wasn't, the universe being unable to cope with the horrific thing that had been created.

We all just stood there in horror and disgust. Even Titania, the unflappable queen looked sickened by what had just happened, and Toby was throwing up into the chasm while Aurora stared in bloodless shock and disgust. I couldn't even move, unable to even cogitate the horror of what id just seen, until I heard a beautiful perfect beloved voice behind me say "Holy shit Ferro, that was hardcore." I spun around and shouted with joy as my girl…my beautiful angel came sailing into my arms and kissed me soundly on the mouth, wrapping her gorgeous legs around me.

I pulled back laughing and spun her in circles whooping with delight to see my mate again, and Mal just slumped against me and laughed with joy and relief. After a minute she pulled back and gave me a suspicious look "Why do you taste like Butterscotch?" I winced a bit and gestured at Aurora, Mal glared at her and then me "You're supposed to ask first, did you fuck her?" My eyes widened "No! Baby I would never, I pushed her off me as soon as my head cleared, damn Dragon pheromones. I wouldn't do that to you, I wont fuck another girl unless youre cool with it."

She gave me a hard look then smiled and patted me on the cheek "You can fuck who you want baby, I'd love to be there to watch but I wont always be around." She fixed me with an icy glare "But if you stick your dick in another girl before you fuck me the first time Im gonna cut it off." I swallowed loudly at that rather alarming mental image, when had Mal gotten so damn scary.

She spun and leveled her glare at Aurora "And you! He's mated bitch! He can have sex with whoever he wants but trying to fuck another females mate is bad form, you didn't know about my rules for him or what I allowed when you tried to fuck him, why shouldn't I kill your ass" My eyes were wide as saucers, my girl had an occasionally dirty mouth but usually not this dirty, apparently my being missing and showing up again had gotten her all excited. Aurora for her part could sense the malice rolling of my angel and how damn powerful she was, and since we were standing in a place made to permanently kill faeries she decided discretion was the better part of valor.

She walked over to Mal and to the shock of everyone there knelt down before my mate "You're right, I'm sorry, I've never met another Dragon before, besides my father,and especially not a male. I cant apologize enough for the transgression. How can I make it up to you?" Mal looked down at her pensively "You know the traditional apology?" Auroras face turned scarlet as she knelt in front of Mal and she reached for the button on my mates pants.

Mal reached down and stopped her, my eyes were wide as saucers, apparently when a female stepped into another females territory she was expected to adressed the wronged parties sexual needs personally. Mal slid her hand into her pants and I saw her shift and moan as she presumably slid a finger or two inside herself, this entire thing was making me insanely horny and I reminded myself to learn more about Dragons, because apparently our laws were awesome. Her hips rocked back and forth as she apparently rode her hand and then Mal withdrew two fingers and pressed them to Auroras lips, the latter promptly licking and sucking them clean in literally the hottest possible fashion. Then she grabbed Aurora by the hair yanked her to her feet, whispered in her ear spun, her around lifted her sun dress and slapped her bare ass hard enough to leave a mark, Aurora squeaked and walked quickly away.

The reactions to this little tableu were pretty varied, some were turned on (me and John and interestingly I think Toby) some were bored (Ferro Amelia and surprisingly Titania) and some (the red haired man I didn't know and his people) seemed uncomfortable, presumably because their queen had just been forced to symbolically eat a strange girls pussy and then been literally spanked for it. I turned to Mal and glanced questioningly at her, and she smiled sweetly at me "I told her I didn't like punishing her in front of our audience, and she was to come find me and apologize properly later."

Promising myself I was going to be there for that I then nodded to carrot top and his cavity goons "Whats with the goon squad?" Mal just shrugged "That's Tobys Guardian, Sylvester Torquil, we followed what we could find of your trail into his dutchy, probably because its where Toby is from, and he met us there. Turned into kind of a dick measuring contest for minute until I placed the name and we hashed everything out." I nodded at that, Toby was a sweet girl, It made sense that she would be missed.

Then something hit me "How did you find us? Mab said whoever grabbed us onto the shadow roads covered their tracks? She's the queen of air and darkness so not being able to hide in the shadows from her makes sense, but how did you manage to track us?" Mal grinned wickedly "We didn't, we tracked me." I gave her a puzzled frown "Explain please" Mal just kept grinning like the cat that ate a whole house full of canarys "Well we as you know are soul mates, you have some of mone I have some of yours, so Amelia was able to track the piece of my soul that wasn't inside me to find you, and since the person who cloaked you didn't know they were hiding my magical signature as well as yours and Tobys, we were able to find you easily.

I turned to Ferro "Your idea I assume, also what the actual fuck was that black orb and please tell me you don't have any more?" Ferro grinned humorlessly "Naturally it was my idea (Mal shouted "Hey" in the background but we ignored it) as for the weapon it was a chaos bomb, theyre created by harnessing the discord and unnatural energy created when something seriously damages the time streams predicted flow. As for having more I'm afraid not, as you can imagine based on the description of their creation theyre insanely rare. That was the only one ive ever seen and I've been alive for eons, I'd say you owe me for using it, but you already owe me more than you can ever repay and honestly ive been waiting for controlled circumstances to test it for almost as long as I've had it."

I gave the disturbing man a pensive glance and decided to try to ignore that comment about owing him before turning to John, who was holding a crying Toby, having finally broken from all the excitement, the ups and downs of the last day would make any crack and she'd been through even more than I had with her change and all. My friend looked up from her and smiled tiredly, and I noticed the blood on his teeth and crusting his nostrils "Christ man you look worse than I do. What the hell ran over you? And why did it decide to back up?"

John snorted and gave me what looked to me like a peace sign but I suspected based on his general attitude and demeanor was the british equivalent to the middle finger "To hell with you, mate, I burned out about ten powerful dark artifacts looking for your ungrateful ass, and two others appear to be damaged, I havent been able to get my monkeys paw working right all night, and my aboriginal pointing bone is cracked, im afraid if I use it itll blow up and kill me." I gave him a tired smile and a nod "I'm sorry man, and thanks, I appreciate the assist, youre a hell of a friend."

Last I turned to Amelia, who was very carefully not looking at me, and whose eyes were suspiciously moist "I-" she punched me in the shoulder and glared at me then pulled me into a tight hug I glanced questioningly at Mal who just gave me a soft smile, and then returned the hug. After we talked with Sylvester and told him about Titanias orders he and Toby had a teary goodbye, I could tell the fae lord really loved her and was incredibly sad to see her go, but he held himself together and told her how proud he was that she was going on a quest for their queen.

As we all gathered around Ferro so he could take us back to the circus Titania and Aurora came over to bid us goodbye, Aurora avoided Mals gaze and was blushing deeply, but gave me a hug none the less and even gave a little wiggle while I held her, then she winked at me and then at Mal. Titania looked seriously at me "Theres something looking for you wizard, be on guard, and if you should need aid remember Auroras words, summer is open to you." As we Ferro began to swirl the energy around us he offered a "Goodbye Titania, Goodby Aurora." And the last thing we heard before the rippling energies swallowed us up was Aurora saying a quiet "Goodbye, Daddy."

 **Ugh 10,000 words people, longest chapter I've ever done, this is a new kind of writing for me and I really do need plenty of reviews here. A few issues to adress, Guest you mentioned not adding more corssovers, well sorry to say theres at least two or three more in the storyline, but Ill try to flesh them out well. Let me know how you guys like this one because I need to know if this new writing stle holds up. I think the longer pacing makes the writing more fleshed out but if I was rambling let me know. Thanks guys and cant wait to hear back.**


	15. Dead Man's Party

Mal POV

The next morning was…a refreshing change of pace. After the hectic night we had we'de gone back to camp and retired to our respective tents. Amelia had taken Toby to find an empty one, and John had apparently decided to find his own accomodations as well, assuming that rooming with Amelia while trying to win over Toby would be a bad plan. Now after a deep exhausted night of sleep I was just curled up against Harry's side in one of his shirts and a pair or panties (interestingly underwear wasn't really a thing on the island but I kind of liked panties) and listening to his slow measure breathing.

My body was almost sore from the constant state of tension and adrenaline of the previous day and I buried my face in Harry's chest and moaned at the near bliss of just not being worried anymore. I felt Harry stir next to me and roll over to smile at me "Well hey there sleepyhead. You seem pretty relaxed. How are you feeling today?" He was smiling shyly at me as he ran his fingers through my hair.

I leaned up to place a kiss softly on his lips "I have you back so I'm feeling much better. I'm a bit sore though I was pretty tense most of yesterday and-" I cut off my sentence with a deep moan as Harry reached down and began to knead my ass, I kissed him again this one just a bit more hungry "Baby I promise you that's a good idea and I would love to play it out but we should wait until we're both feeling less tense." Harry chuckled and took one hand off my ass to knead my shoulder.

 _ **Lemon Warning (A/N I know I usually do these end of chapter but I realized I'd been putting off their first time and this seemed like a good place to have it since I was always planning it to be after Harry got out of a big jam, the end is marked feel free to skip it if you want guys)**_

"I'm not coming onto you love, you're sore so I want to give you a massage. Strip down for me so I can rub that tension out." His hands felt so good on my sore muscles I was actually getting wet, although his hand working my ass probably wasn't helping that "Besides" He whispered in my ear "I can think of a few ways for you to unwind" His hand skimmed my hip and ass before sliding over to my pussy which I was grinding into his hand through my panties.

"I could use some relaxation." I moaned "But why would I need to strip down for you to relax me?" My question was coy and the hand on my shoulder slipped down to my tits as harry rolled me over and pulled me onto him. I could feel his dick against my ass as his finger slipped under my panties and slid into my pussy, his thumb rubbing my clit while his hand slid up under my shirt to grab the same handful he'd been groping through the tee.

"Well" he said hoarsely "I suppose I could think of a few ways to relax you while youre dressed, if youre really against being naked for me. But it doesn't feel like youre too opposed to the idea" He kept his fingers working mercilessly at my pussy while he leaned down to nibble at my neck, and I involuntarily shifted my ass to grind on his dick. In one fluid motion I sat up and rolled myself so I was straddling his hips. His eyes widened in surprise "Baby you said you wanted to wait for your first time so I thought I'd just get you off. I didn't mean to push you."

I chuckled at him "I said we should wait because we were tense and amped, and I wasn't necessarily in the mood after yesterdays crises, but I'm more than in the mood now. Besides it occurs to me that if I wait for a time when something isnt going on for you to fuck me I'll have to do without for the rest of my life." I rolled my hips to drag my pussy over the front of his silk boxers, and even covered in panties I knew he could feel how hot I was. "I love you and that's not going away, I cant think of anyone better for my first time, and even the…size isnt an issue, dragons are tough." I was blushing as I said that last part, because while I knew how big Harry was, feeling it pressed against my pussy was a bit different than a blowjob.

He smiled softly at me and leaned up to kiss me, breaking the kiss to yank my shirt up over my head and tossing it to the side. He reached down to strip my panties off but with me straddling him it would've been awkward, so I reached down and ripped the lacy thong right off my ass. Harry gulped audibly looking at me and I reached down to slip him out of his boxers. I was on top so I could control how deep he went better and I lowered myself slowly.

It was a tight fit especially since it was my first time, and despite being wet enough to warrant tropical classification I could get him very far in, it took me a couple of times to get farther than a few inches but I felt some of the pain lessen as I started to roll my hips, I could feel him getting deeper and I moaned as the pain started to shift towards pleasure and electric surge racing through me. Harry reached up and rolled us both so I was on my back and I couldn't have been happier about any decision anyone had ever made.

"Oh god baby, I need it deeper, please fuck me, I need it." I heard the begging in my own voice as I looked up at him and he lifted one of my legs to sit on his shoulder as he started to pick up the pace, the faster he went the more my mouth seemed to be running on auto "fuck me baby, just pound me, holy shit don't stop, I need it faster, don't slow down" Harry started to pick up speed as he slammed into me and I felt my mind start to haze over "god baby your cock feels so fucking good just a little harder I can take it"

I'd never been more turned on in my life and I could feel the haze in my mind get thicker as I got closer to cumming, Harry's eyes were out of focus with lust as he pounded into me and I started screaming, begging him to keep going, to fuck me harder, faster I wondered why harry wasn't talking like I was but after looking at his jaw I realized how hard he was trying not to cum too soon, which I would've taken as a compliment if my mind hadn't been on a knifes edge over a screaming abyss of orgasmic fire. He was sucking my tits now, switching back and forth between them and when he reached down to rub my clit it was finally too much.

I came screaming his name and I felt him explode inside me at the same time, and my mind officially went blank with pleasure for what felt like about five minutes. I collapsed onto the bed next to him panting heavily and cuddled up to his side, a contented smile on my face as we lay there together, whole.

 _ **Lemon End**_

Harry looked a bit dazed for about fifteen minutes after we finished, and I grinned at him before leaning up for a kiss, and then hopped out of bed. I went to the wardrobe and started dressing and he looked a bit confused "Hey where are you going I thought we'de stay in bed." I grinned at him happily and started pulling clothes out to toss at him. He looked down at them and blinked before shrugging and pulling them on in a slow, confused state, which actually succeeded in making me giggle.

I just felt like walking around, we'de only woken up an hour or two ago and I wanted to be out and enjoying my good mood in the sunshine. Harry was blearily pulling himself into the clothes I'd tossed him as I explained this and we set off for our stroll around the familiar campground and its unfamiliar setting. Our new location was…pretty nondescript really. Pretty but forgettable. I could see lots of trees and green. We were near a river and as we walked down the bank we could see Toby sitting on a dock swinging her legs.

John was with her laying in her lap with an arm shading his eyes from the morning sun, and they both looked relaxed and cheerful. Apparently we werent the only ones coming down off some emotional exhaustion from the events of the day before. Toby smiled up at us as we approached. "Mal, Harry, good morning, isnt it beautiful here? I havent seen trees like this since I moved out of the summerlands!" She stood up fast, displacing a cursing John and hopped to her feet to spin in circles.

John pulled himself back upright again and smiled wryly at us "I think maybe milady is a bit giddy from the transformation, shes been sally sunshine all day and most of last night once she calmed down." Toby just giggled jumped on him, wrapping her arms around him in what harry sometimes referred to as a "glomp" and I couldn't help but laugh myself at the magic-drunk teens antics. They seemed like they were recovering well from their ordeal. "So what are you lot doing up so early? This one slept like the dead when we were in arcadia" He chucked his head at Harry who rolled his eyes but couldn't dampen his manic grin.

John looked suspiciously at Harrys grin then at me. Staring intently at the beaming smile on my face and Harrys nearly smug grin and then grinned lecherously at us both "Finally! I'd recognize that stupid smirk anywhere! Not a man alive who doesn't see it in the mirror after he gets lucky!" Toby elbowed him in the ribs and he yelped, giving her a wounded look. Toby raised an eyebrow and her formerly cheerful face looked stern and unyielding.

"That's none of our business Johnny, don't be gross." She took in Johns affronted look and her imperious face melted into a giggle again as she actually covered her mouth. "And get that ridiculous look off your face, not everything is up for discussion, boys can be such gossips." Harrys face joined Johns in its indignant expression. Toby took one look at him then gave me a smirk and we both burst out laughing.

Harry and John just scowled at us and sat down while we chuckled. John rolled his eyes and picked up where we'de left off "As I was saying before I was sidetracked by your sex life, I assumed you two would be asleep, unless Amelia woke you for the meeting with the vampires, but I suppose I answered my own question." He grinned at us both rougishly "The libido has no wake up time."

I looked at him, puzzled "Wait, meeting with the vampires? Its mid-day, are vampires here different from the ones back home? Because where im from morning plus vampires equals barbecue, and not the tasty kind, vampires taste a bit like ash. I assume if we're meeting them they arent entirely hostile so why do we want them char-broiled?" Not to mention despite all the supposed ties we were building these constant meetings were really starting to wear on my nerves.

John gave a small shake of his head "We're going to be going into their lair, apparently its some kind of show of strength, the idea is we come across so unconcerned with them they have to either acknowledge our superiority or try to make an issue of it. To be honest I think Amy wants them to have a problem, she gets antsy without a fight and vampires are a good appetizer she says." I raised my eye at him calling Amelia Amy, but they did spend a lot of time together, she gave him training like she did for us, only a bit more specialized.

It made sense theyde be close, considering their connection, and not for the first time I wondered exactly what made Amelia so interested in John. He was a great sorcerer for his age sure but for her to have picked him out of all the magic users in the world… I had a feeling John had more surprises in him than just talent. Sometimes when he was doing magic I could almost sense something off about him, like his magic was just a bit more perfect and sharp than was natural. It didn't seem like something he was aware of though so I had just chalked it up to some kind of minor blessing or something, but lately I was getting an off feeling.

John noticed my lingering look and mistook it for shock at his declaration. He gave me comforting grin "Don't worry about it, Amy talks a big game but she can certainly back it up, and the rest of us aren't exactly slouches either. Woe betide the vampire who picks a fight."I shook off my concerns and gave him a smile, regardless of power or origin, John had stood at my back when I needed him and was willing to go into hell for either Harry or I. He was a true friend, and I was thankful every day that we'de decided to go into that ramshackle little pub.

I let my soft smile show how I was feeling for a moment before asking " So Amelia wants us to go with her? I'll admit im a bit tired I was hoping we could take today off." Truth be told I wanted to spend the day with Harry, preferably fucking more, but that seemed like an overshare. So I just sighed and looked at John "So when are we leaving?"

John just gave me his trademark devil may care grin "Right now works. Amelia left hours ago and told us to leave to meet her about thirty minutes back, but Amy is late for everything, so I was just relaxing while we waited. If you guys are coming with we can leave asap."

It took about forty-five minutes to get to the mansion the vampires apparently lived in. It was unusual, not like any manor I'd ever seen, with strange twisted tiles on the roof and an odd tan colored spiky surface coating the walls. The streetlights around us seemed…somehow dimmer than the rest, as if there were a darkness choking the air we couldn't even see. As we got out of the car I saw Harry's lip curl as his wizard senses probably picked up something I couldn't detect. John's reaction was minimal, but considering the sorts of things he was using to try to locate Harry and Toby I was doubting he was picky about the powers he chose to interact with.

I could see a couple of sentries skulking silently around the perimeter, nearly invisible even to my eyes, and felt a whisper of magic slide over us as Toby dropped a don't look here over our heads. I looked to her and nodded without speaking, the spell wouldn't stop us from getting the attention of anyone we wanted to alert to our presence but it would keep us off the radar of people or things best avoided. I could tell the sentries were vampires, I could actually sense the predatory instincts inside them, calling out to the beast in me. The Dragon wanted to dominate, wanted to show these inferior predators who was in charge here.

I felt Harry tense behind me, and I was sure his inner beast was raging at this insult to our authority as much as mine. I clamped down roughly on the lust that flared up at that thought and took a deep breath, pushing the Dragon inside down as deep as I could. We mustve been growling because Toby and John were staring at us worriedly and Amelia, who had appeared out of nowhere as we walked up, was smiling in doting amusement.

Harry gave me an embarrassed glance and shrugged, which I returned with a smile, I thought it was cute how insecure he could be about the whole Dragon thing. We walked up the drive slowly, taking the time to watch our surroundings. I could feel the predators in the dark, shifting and moving to track us but keeping their distance, I could sense…not fear exactly but more like caution from the inferior hunters.

The vampire who met us at the door seemed…different. He was good looking in a strong way, his hair was brown and well kept and he wore a pair of blue jeans and a faded blue t-shirt. He had a warm smile on his face that seemed genuine and he seemed to be going out of his way to breather and blink regularly (Amelia had mentioned that most vampires don't bother). I couldn't put my finger on the reason but something about him seemed off, the jeans and T-shirt looked…out of place on him, like he was impersonating a human being, it reminded me a bit of the impression I'd gotten when first meeting Ferro, but not as ethereal, the danger here was physical, not magical, this vampire was STRONG, and he could at the very least make us bleed for any trouble we gave his mistress.

He flashed us a charming smile, careful not to flash any fang "Welcome friends, I greet you as the representative of the mistress of the mid-columbia seethe, I am Stefan Ucello, its lovely you meet you all." His words were strangely affected, rolling in an odd way I hadn't heard in my time on this world, but not an unpleasant sound. Harry seemed to notice the vampires power as well, he went tense at the vampires introduction, before stepping forward to stand in front of me "Harry Dresden, and this is my mate Mal, and our friends John and Toby."

He reached out his hand to the man, who took it with that same jovial grin, and though I half expected it did not crush the vampires hand to dust. Harry was really starting to worry me honestly, things between us had been amazing, but though it'd been only a few hours since we'de had sex I could see the Dragon part of him asserting more dominance. Completing our mating seemed to have affected his self control, and I was going to have to talk to someone about it, I locked eyes with Amelia and frowned at her, to which she nodded and mouthed "later".

After the posturing we followed the vampire into the house, I could tell from the respect and the wide berth the others we saw gave him I had been right, this one was not your run of the mill bloodsucker, we followed him down through the house, eventually emerging into a long tunnel with very little incline, there was a bit of a curve so I'm not sure how far we walked but we were either very deep underground or very far from the main house or both. The vampires loitering around us became less common as we walked, thinning and eventually disappearing altogether as we walked the final stretch of hallway to a huge iron bound door of thick wood.

Honestly I was feeling pretty comfortable here, my mother had a tendency to favor layouts like this and I was feeling pretty at home. With the vampires thinning out my inner Dragon was calming somewhat and I was starting to relax, which was more than could be said for Harry, his muscles seemed to be tensing and I could see blue leech into the irises of his eyes. He was getting less stable by the minute and if he kept it up at this rate he was going to snap before the end of the day, I was just hoping we could get back to the circus first because while Harry would never hurt me if he lost it he could take out the whole city.

Stefan stepped forward, seemingly oblivious to the danger (though I doubted he was, I found myself liking the odd vampire, he seemed canny and laid back, and smart enough to avoid a confrontation with my enraged love) he rapped four times in a pattern on the door and it swung smoothly inward (complete with ominous squeal, I swear this was just like home) to reveal a somewhat frilly looking man with dark hair in a puffy sleeved white shirt like one of the princes from my world would wear.

The frilly vampire gave a wide grin, showing plenty of fang and said in a dramatic voice "enter freely, and of your own will." I got the feeling he was referencing something because that seemingly ominous declaration let the tension out of the situation like a pin poking a hole in a balloon. John burst out laughing, Stefan and Amelia rolled their eyes almost in unison and the tension in Harry melted away as some air went down the wrong pipe and he started intermittently laughing and choking.

I felt a sense of gratitude to this unknown vampire at whatever he had done, and made a mental note to repay the favor sometime down the line. We didn't get much of a respite though because a beautiful voice rolled over us from inside the room "Who is it?" The vampires face turned serious "My lady it is the delegation from Lord Ferrovax, they seek an audience." The lazy female voice of who I could only assume was their queen shot back "Well. Then why am I waiting? Show them in, Andre."

I realized as I walked in that I had no idea what the point of this meeting was. I knew we were greeting a power in the territory hosting us but it seemed odd to just come in say hello and leave. Ferro wasn't the type to bend the knee for formality or really for anything. If we were here it was for some reason. I suspected at this point the old Dragon was taking us to specific places where he felt we could collect allies and influence best, it seemed too much of a coincidence that we'de picked up a new ally at every stop.

We walked further into the room, and as we did my Dragon reared its head, the whole place was crawling with vampires, some weak, some strong, but the most dangerous had to be the woman sitting in the back of the room. She looked tiny and delicate, a little china doll with pale skin and platinum blonde hair, her fragility was more than just physical though, her luminous green eyes seemed too bright and vague. Her movements though fast and sure like the other vampires seemed jerky and off. I had trouble tracking her with my eyes, at some moments moving too fast to see and at other sitting too still for a living creature to sit. But the worst part was the impression that she was made of fine china, that the sheer fact of her movement and animation would shatter her any second, and that the shards would tear us all to shreds when she broke.

Her fevered gaze tracked over us, noting Amelia and I with interest and lingering on John for a second before gluing itself on Harry. That horrible stillness rolled over her and stayed. She didn't move, or blink, or breathe. Her tongue rolled smoothly over her lips in a hungry, sensual sweep, and I saw the animal portion of Harry take notice of its motion. This was not good. Something was very wrong with Harry, he wasn't acting right at all and I wasn't sure if he was vulnerable or dangerous but I had a feeling either would be a disaster.

The eyes tracking the vampire queen glowed a chilling cobalt blue, giving the impression of a brutal, unbreakable frost. His gaze looked cold and alien, and I recognized the effect as similar to the poison green my own eyes sometimes blazed. Somehow I doubted that arctic glare boded well.

 **Hey all sorry this one is really late, started a new story (Rose on a Grave, it's a Thomas centered RWBY crossover fic, I 'd love it if you'de check it out) if possible I'd love some reviews guys, theyre the things that keep me writing and not getting many tends to kill my enthusiasm and result in me switching to a new story, just saying. For anyone interested I made a (pat-re-on) its /kingofclubs8129 on that site, feel free to check it out, I appreciate anyone who does even if they don't pledge. Anyway hope you guys liked it, let me know.**


	16. Animal I Have Become

**Mal POV**

Harry looked like he was about to lunge across the room, or tear his clothes off. I got the feeling that either would be…unfortunate. The vampire gazing hungrily at him seemed broken somehow, and were he to either kill her or leave himself vulnerable I couldn't see a good outcome in either. Something was wrong with him, I'd been seeing bits of it all day but at this point it was completely obvious that Harry was not in control of himself. His Dragon was in the drivers seat.

I hadn't had any problems with control like that since I was a child so I hadn't even considered that it could get that bad. My mother had beaten control of my inner Dragon into me before I turned five, I could barely even remember being as gone as Harry was. For her part the vampire seemed oblivious to the danger she was in, or maybe not, if the smell was anything to go by something about the situation had her fairly excited. In this state though Harry was just as likely to rip out her still beating heart as fuck her, possibly both at once, the Dragon liked that kind of thing sometimes when its blood was up.

I took a step forward and placed a soothing hand on my mates arm "Harry? Baby its me. I need you to focus on my voice ok? Find where it tugs at your heart and follow it back to your ears. Pull yourself back into your own mind ok? I know things are a bit fuzzy but I need you to ignore that, just follow my voice. Can you do that for me?" I rambled the same instructions my mother had used on me (albeit paraphrased and much less abusive both verbally and physically) in my softest sweetest voice.

The Dragon knew its mate, I needed to give Harry something about me to focus on, and the poetic nature of the instructions were meant to confuse, if he had to use his brain to try to make sense of them it would impose logic on his currently impulse driven psyche. Those chilling blue eyes flicked to me, and aside from some possessiveness I couldn't see a trace of my sweet, gentle boy in there. This was wrong, the Dragon was instinct but it was also heat, he shouldn't be like this, shouldn't be cold. I flicked my gaze to Amelia only to find her standing close than she had been. She had moved up behind Harry quietly.

She must have been communicating with John somehow because he was standing on Harrys other side, and made a strategic cough, Harry turned at the sudden noise and fast as lightning the heel of Amelias palm lashed out and smashed into the soft spot between the base of Harrys skull and his spine. My mate crumpled like a beer can on Johns forehead when he got too drunk and did that head smashing thing. John stepped up silently and caught him, staggering a bit under Harrys massive bulk, I saw him mutter a quick spell, presumably to keep Harry asleep.

Marcilia had reacted instantly when Harry had been struck, lunging forward. Had she reached us she'd have been met by an angry Amelia, not something to sneeze at, but it wasn't an issue in any case. The vampire with the jeans, Stefan, had just…appeared, between Harry and Marcilia. He didn't make any move to stop or restrain her just stood there and let her hit him at a full tackle. They both sprawled the floor, Stefan remaining limp with his eyes averted. He might've been willing to stop her for her own sake but he wouldn't raise a hand against his mistress.

Amelia looked ready for a fight, her own animal instincts on edge, as well as I thought maybe her maternal ones, judging by how protective she seemed of Harry. "Lady Marcilia, we're going to need to excuse ourselves. It seems one of our number is feeling a bit ill. I trust that's not a problem." It was funny how when Amelia said 'I trust that's not a problem' it sounded eerily like 'say something bitch'.

The vampire looked about ready to rip someones head off, that someone being Stefan most likely, but she seemed to come back to herself with some effort "of course" her throaty purring voice was now rough like sandpaper, like she was dying of thirst in the desert and coming down off withdrawl all at once "you may go." I have to admit as crazy as things had just been and as horny and hungry and angry as she was a minute ago I was pretty impressed by her ability to let us leave. That vampire queen was a stone cold bitch. If she hadn't wanted to eat my boyfriend I might've liked her.

 **Harry POV**

I woke up with a splitting headache. I couldn't remember the last thing that had happened, once we got to the vampire lair things had gotten fuzzy. I rolled over in bed to see…all of my friends. Amelia and Mal and Toby and John were all sitting staring at me. Ferro sat off to one side in a comfortable chair that hadn't been in my tent (which is where we were) this morning.

Ferro was looking at me with an expression of patient boredom "Ah, Harry you're awake. I managed to suppress your Dragon for the moment so we could apprise you of the situation, so don't worry about doing anything…untoward." Toby gave a muffled sob alerting me to the fact that she'd been crying since I woke up, how had I not noticed that. John was cursing up a blue streak and Amelia looked sour and annoyed. Mal was just still sitting there staring, face pale and drawn. "there isn't much time to make bring you up to speed so I'll just jump right in. The power you possess, it's killing you."

 **Ok guys short chapter here sorry, next weeks (if I can stick to my seven chapters in seven days schedule I'll update again in a week, please support my efforts by reading and reviewing as many of my stories as you're interested in) will be longer. Hope to hear some reviews from you guys. Also I made a (pat-re-on) its that site /kingofclubs8129 (no dashes of course and no parentheses.**


	17. AN

Hey guys working sorry its been a while but I've been working on other things. Just finished publishing my first original novel. Its on Amazon and its called Mortal Spin by Morgan Landyss. If you like my writing style feel free to check it out.


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